Daily Times

“The shared goal for Pakistan, United States and all leading nations of the world is to have peace and security in the region,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan. “On one hand, we have to take steps to curb tendencies that would hurt international peace and security and on the other, to promote the global commons that make this life better for the majority of the people,” he added. “When we talk about Global South, the priority number one should be elimination of poverty, eradication of poverty. You have to reduce poverty to zero and that’s a goal that we should pursue,” he said.

Ambassador Masood Khan made these remarks while talking to Tim Horgan of World Affairs Council of New Hampshire during ‘Global in the Granite State’ Podcast which is an engaging and informative show to provide the audience with a deeper understanding of important international issues. Underscoring that peace and security was a holistic subject, the Ambassador emphasized the need for investment in sustainable development. “We have to face the challenge of climate change. Climate Change has become existential threat for the entire globe,” he said. “We should also have a responsible and responsive international financial system” to enable countries walk out of the debt trap and to make the economies more resilient and self-sufficient, he added.

Talking about Pak-US relations especially after post-withdrawal period, the Ambassador highlighted that the two countries have successfully recalibrated their relationship around two clusters i.e. security and economic partnership. “When we talk about Pak-US economic partnership, which is all encompassing, we also include in it climate change and issues like healthcare, education, people to people contacts, so that we could give strong sinews to this relationship,” he said. Noting that US was overly aligned with India which was negation of traditional policy of maintaining strategic balance in the relationship with South Asian countries, the Ambassador opined that restoration of equilibrium would contribute to peace and security of the region. He, however, noted that Pakistan had its own independent space vis-à-vis United States and “we want to use up that space in the economic and defence realms.” On US-China relations, the Ambassador observed that the “United States leadership has been managing the relationship with great care and wisdom.” He also noted that the recent visits have set the ground for collaborative model, not a confrontational model. He opined that continuing rapprochement between United States and China would be in the interest of the two country and the globe.

The Ambassador said that Pakistan could act as an economic bridge between China and the United States. He said that while the US was decoupling or de-risking, it could relocate some of its industries to Pakistan. The United States could also manufacture in Pakistan and export its products and services to China. On Afghanistan, the Ambassador reiterated the call for Afghan Government to crackdown on organizations like TTP. “We want the interim Afghan government to crack down on these outfits, particularly the TTP, to delegitimize and neutralize them,” he urged. He emphasized that terrorism imperils not just Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also the United States and its allies in the region. On Kashmir, the Ambassador reiterated Pakistan wanted that the people of the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir should be given a choice to determine their own future thought the ballot box and no through bullets.

About India’s progress, Masood Khan observed that their progress “would become much more respectable if they have good relations with their neighbors, including Pakistan and if they also invest in economic connectivity.” “India’s preference should be neighborhood first and it should be peaceful neighborhood,” said the Ambassador.