Islamabad wants to break out of ‘cyclical pattern’ of Pakistan-US ties — foreign minister

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said Pakistan wanted to “break out of the cyclical pattern” that had long defined its ties with the United States and build a more broad-based and multidimensional relationship.
Qureshi was delivering a keynote address at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York on Tuesday.
Officially allies in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and the United States have a complicated relationship, bound for decades by Washington’s dependence on Pakistan to supply its troops in Afghanistan but plagued by accusations Islamabad is playing a “double game.”
Tensions grew over the last decade over US complaints that the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network that target American troops in Afghanistan were allowed to shelter on Pakistani soil. Pakistan denies the charge and has long insisted that the US view Islamabad beyond the lens of Kabul.
“With the end of the US mission in Afghanistan, Pakistan wanted to build a more broad-based and multidimensional relationship with the United States,” Qureshi said in his address at CFR. “Pakistan wanted to break out of the cyclical pattern that had defined Pakistan-US ties in the past and find new anchors for the relationship in trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges.”
He said an economically strong Pakistan would be “an anchor of stability” in the region, which had suffered because of 40 years of conflict in Afghanistan. He added that Islamabad wanted to work with the US in areas that would create jobs and economic prosperity on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and help the Afghan people rebuild their country.
“Isolating Afghanistan had proven to be a mistake in the past,” Qureshi said, urging the international community to encourage progress toward a more inclusive government in Afghanistan through sustained engagement.
“A stable government in Afghanistan would be more effective at denying space to terrorist groups. While the Taliban should be held to their commitments on counter-terrorism, human rights and political inclusivity, the immediate priority must be to help the Afghan people as they confronted a potential humanitarian crisis.”
Qureshi is in New York to represent Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly session scheduled for later this week. The session will focus on boosting efforts to fight climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, along with discussions on Afghanistan and Iran.

Islamabad wants to break out of ‘cyclical pattern’ of Pakistan-US ties — foreign minister