Gulf News

PM mulls ‘befitting reply’ to Trump letter

Imran tells officials to make sure the US realises it is dealing with ‘Naya Pakistan’

- BY ZUBAIR QURESHI Correspond­ent

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his team to prepare a reply to US President Donald Trump’s letter received earlier last week.

In his letter, the US President had urged Imran to play a role in brokering peace talks in Afghanista­n between Kabul and the Taliban.

According to diplomatic sources Imran has asked Qureshi to weigh all options — while giving Pakistan’s point of view clearly and succinctly.

The prime minister has also dictated main points to be included in the letter and asked officials to make sure the United States realises it is dealing with ‘Naya Pakistan’ (new Pakistan).

However, the sources emphasised, Imran has decided to give an overall positive reply to the US president’s letter and to convey to the Trump administra­tion that Pakistan is ready to extend all help for reconcilia­tion between the warring factions.

The minister has assigned senior officials in the Foreign Ministry to make sure Imran’s vision is reflected in the reply to the US President’s letter.

It was on Monday, December 3, when the government spokespers­on Informatio­n Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry had revealed to media that a letter has been received from the US president seeking Pakistan’s proactive role in peace talks with Taliban in Afghanista­n.

‘Important relationsh­ip’

Trump told Imran the relationsh­ip with Pakistan was very important to the United States and to the process of finding a solution to the Afghanista­n conflict, Chaudhry said.

Later, the White House also confirmed the US President had written a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

On December 6, while chairing a Cabinet meeting Imran remarked that, though late yet very rightly, the US had come to terms with what he and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had been saying about the Afghan conflict over the last decade and a half.

“The United States for the first time recognised what the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has always been saying: that there is no military solution to Afghanista­n,” Khan said in his remarks at a meeting of the Federal Cabinet at the PM’s Office.

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