Trust deficit between Pakistan and US: Asif

islamabad — Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has acknowledged that there is a “trust deficit” between Pakistan and the US over the issue of Afghanistan even as he asserted that the two countries were talking to bridge their differences.

Asif’s remarks came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his whirlwind visit here. “Yes there is a trust deficit, but we are talking,” Asif said in response to a question.

“Having said that, (I should say) there is a willingness on both sides to bridge this (trust) deficit,” he told BBC Urdu on Tuesday.

The foreign minister also said that the US and international forces had failed to end the conflict in Afghanistan despite their over a decade-long efforts.

“They (US) must do some selfaccountability also. Why have they lost 45 per cent of the Afghan territory in the last 10, 12 years,” he asked.

Asif also said that Pakistan was not dependent on the US aid as it has been getting only a “trickle” of the assistance. He said Pakistan was also not looking for military hardware from the US. “We

They (the us) must do some self-accountability also. Why have they lost 45 per cent of the afghan territory

Khawaja Asif, Foreign Minister

do not get any military hardware from the US. We are not like in the past when we were their proxy,” he said.

Separately, talking to Geo TV, he said that Pakistani leaders told Tillerson that there were no terrorist safe havens in Pakistan.“Terrorist attacks are not planned or executed from Pakistani soil, there are no terrorist safe havens in Pakistan, and we made this clear to the US delegation,” Asif said. — PTI