Daily Times

Relations between Pakistan and the U.S. have the potential to grow and scale up in the years to come, provided both sides recalibrate their relations meticulously. This was stated by two visiting strategic analysts from the U.S – Mr. Daniel F. Runde Senior Vice President at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Former Ambassador and Senior Assistant Secretary of the State Robin Raphel – at an event that was hosted by the Centre for Law and Security CLAS. Dr. Faisal Mushtaq, Chairman & CEO Roots Millennium Education Group & TMUC, welcomed the guests and CLAS Executive Director Rehman Azhar moderated the session.

Welcoming the guests, Dr. Faisal Mushtaq said that he will ensure to consolidate and connect the two countries through education to an advanced level now by collaborating TMUC with the prestigious universities in the USA. Mr. Daniel Runde, a Republican, who has held senior positions at USAID and the World Bank Group observed that Pakistan and US should foster ties beyond security and defense areas and mineral trade with Pakistan can be utilized to strengthen its ties.

He also said that both countries can become partners in energy. He also stressed that education is a key area where collaboration between the two countries can help improve ties and suggested that universities in the United States can look towards opening a campus here in Pakistan. Daniel Runde, after conducting an in-depth study on Pakistan’s economy in 2015, had published an article in Forbes forecasting that Pakistan would be the next success story. Amb. Robin Raphel, who had served in Pakistan as a diplomat and held the important position of Assistant Secretary of South Asia and Ambassador to Tunisia, also struck a note of optimism for the growth of Pak -U.S. relation. She said that new administration will reassess and review its ties with Pakistan, but much will continue to be the same.

She stressed that United States would continue to engage with Pakistan and the engagement goes beyond just measures of security. She stressed that both states should focus on forging their relations in non-security areas such as climate change, research, and education. Ambassador Masood Khan, currently President of TMUC and Millennium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship MiTE, said that Pakistan looked forward to working with President Trump’s administration, adding that it had done so during the previous Trump Administration. He said that Pakistan and the U.S, over the years, had developed mutual interests bilaterally and in the region that cannot be sidelined or imperiled. Ambassador Khan recently returned from Washington where he has served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States. The event was attended by TMUC and CLAS faculty, researchers, scholars and corporate executives. CLAS Executive Director Rehman Azhar, a renowned anchorperson, said that CLAS would hold a series of such dialogues to promote closer ties between Pakistan and the other nations and foster better trade and investment ties with them.