Pak suspends talks with US over Trump remarks
Pakistan has suspended official visits and talks with the US to protest against President Donald Trump’s criticism of Islamabad for providing safe havens to militants, a media report said on Tuesday.
Foreign minister Khawaja Asif announced the same in the Senate on Monday, which converted itself into a committee to discuss the deteriorating relations with the US.
Asif told the senators that Pakistan had suspended talks and bilateral visits as a mark of protest, Dawn quoted sources as saying.
US secretary of state for South and Central Asia Alice Wells was supposed to arrive on Tuesday, while Asif was to travel to the US last week.
About the recently unveiled policy of the US president on South Asia, Asif said it envisaged no military role for India in Afghanistan.
According to the sources, the minister said it was rather a role of economic development.
He claimed during the in-camera session of the committee that India would not be allowed to use Afghan soil to destabilise Pakistan.
The members also asked the government to share a fact- sheet on US assistance received after 9/11 and the financial loss incurred by the country as a frontline state against the war on terror.
Foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua informed the house that a meeting of Pakistan’s envoys had been convened from September 5 to 7 to chalk out a strategy after announcement of the new US policy on South Asia.
It was decided that the committee will meet again to fine-tune policy guidelines in the light of emerging realities and the role of the US.