The United States and Pakistan have a lot to gain by working with each other, a senior aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, said while speaking at a Pakistan Day event at the country’s embassy in Washington D.C.
Lisa Curtis, Deputy Assistant to the US President on South and Central Asia, who was the Guest of Honor at the embassy reception, congratulated the people of Pakistan as well as Pakistani Americans on the occasion.
“We look forward to growing the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, which has seen its challenges,” said Ms. Curtis, who recently led U.S. discussions with Pakistani officials in Islamabad as the two countries work to repair the strained relationship.
A longtime expert on Pakistan, Curtis noted that the United States had a long history of working together. While there were some challenges faced by the relationship, the two countries had a lot to gain by working with each other, she said according to a Pakistan embassy statement.
Washington and Islamabad recently held a series of meetings toward building mutual trust after the bilateral ties ebbed in the wake of President Trump’s New Year Twitter message in which he blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to counter terrorist threat in return for U.S. assistance.
In recent weeks, Islamabad has used its influence with the Afghan Taliban to push them to talks while the United States, in a sign of addressing Islamabad’s security concerns, has taken out anti-Pakistan militants in their sanctuaries in Afghan province of Kunar.
Still, the two countries need to work on U.S. security assistance for Pakistan, which has been frozen since January. Pakistan has been a major non-NATO ally of the United States-led war no terror and their differences stemmed mainly from approach to tackling the conflict in Afghanistan as well as sanctuaries of Afghan Taliban including the Haqqanis on Pakistani soil.
President Trump’s pick for new national security adviser John Bolton is likely to bring some balance to the U.S. relationship, as he has advocated for not pressuring nuclear-armed Pakistan to the point of destabilization. Although considered a hawk in his worldview, Bolton is expected to approach U.S.-Pakistan relations cautiously as the White House wants to quickly stabilize Afghanistan, something which critically depends on Islamabad’s cooperation.
Welcoming U.S. officials and Pakistani-Americans, Ambassador to the United states Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry recalled the historic struggle for Pakistan’s freedom and the democratic ideals envisaged in the Lahore Resolution of 1940.
On Pakistan-U.S. relations, he said both countries enjoyed historic and longstanding ties that had seen many ups and downs but had always remained resilient.
He expressed the hope that both countries would work together to attain common objectives and secure shared interests.
