Daily Times

The United States’ policy to over-align itself with India negates the country’s traditional policy of maintaining strategic balance in the relationship with South Asian countries, Pakistan Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, has said, while underscoring that restoration of equilibrium would contribute to peace and security in the region.

At the same time, he said in a pod-cast with Tim Horgan of World Affairs Council of New Hampshire — a think-tank — that Pakistan and the US have now re-calibrated their relationship around two clusters — security and economic partnership.

“When we talk about Pak-US economic partnership, which is all encompassing, we also include climate change and issues like healthcare, education, people- to-people contacts, so that we could give strong sinews to this relationship,” the ambassador said.

On US-China relations, the Ambassador said 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 a collaborative model, not a confrontational one.

The ambassador expressed the view that rapprochement between United States and China would be in the interest of the two countries and the world.

In this regard, he said that Pakistan could act as an economic bridge between China and the United States.

While the US was decoupling or de-risking, Masood Khan said 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 militant groups like the TTP. “We want the interim Afghan government to crack down on these outfits, particularly the TTP, to delegitimize and neutralize them.” Terrorism imperils not just Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also the United States and its allies in the region, he added.

On Kashmir, the Ambassador reaffirmed Pakistan’s principles stand that the people of the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir should be given a choice to determine their own future though the ballot box and not through bullets.

Answering a question about India’s progress, Masood Khan said 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,” the Ambassador added.

On the issues relating to Global South, he said the priority 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, while emphasizing the need for investment in sustainable development.

Climate Change, he said, has become existential threat for the entire globe.

“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.