Engage with Trump to fix US-Pak ties, Musharraf tells Islamabad

WASHINGTON: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said the Donald Trump administration was a good opportunity for his country’s government to engage with and address the ongoing dissonance between the two erstwhile allies.

Trump “starts with a clean slate”, Musharraf said at a Washington think-tank. “We need to engage with the new government and project our point of view and our interests in a better way”.

He was speaking at the launch of a new study on how Pakistan and the US could fix a relationship weighed down by distrust and bitterness in recent years.

The launch, followed by daylong discussions kicked off by Musharraf’s keynote address, comes at a time of heightened interest in Pakistan in light of the US’ review of ties that are said to be in an advanced stage.

The Trump administration is under pressure from those who want the US to get tough with Pakistan, arguing it is the only option to force Islamabad to give up its use of, and support for, terrorism as a policy tool.

Former Pakistan ambassador Husain Haqqani and South Asia expert Lisa Curtis, who has since joined Trump’s national security team, argued in a paper earlier this year that the Trump administration should keep open the option of declaring Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

Musharraf’s presence at the launch at The Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University was a part of the effort launched by Pakistan and its supporters here to intervene before, as an expert said, “it was too late”.

Trump presented Pakistan with an opportunity, Musharraf argued. “He still needs to understand what really (are) the complexities of Pakistan-India relations … the complexities of Afghanistan, Taliban, al-Qaeda etc.” “In that, we can certainly try to manage or try to project our point of view in a better way to him because he would be more open to a new understanding of the dynamics. I see it very positively,” he added.