Daily Times

The United States (US) on Friday hoped that Pakistan will ‘do more’ to uphold peace in South Asia and will be a partner in safeguarding the region.

“We believe that Pakistan can certainly do more with respect to regional security. It can certainly do more with respect to security within Afghanistan, and we would look to them and hope that they would both [Pakistan and Afghanistan] help, because they are both victims of terrorism and they’ve also sponsored terrorism,” Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Dana White said during a regular briefing at the Pentagon. “So we look to Pakistan to create more opportunities to secure the region,” White added.

“Again, this is an inflection point for Pakistan. Pakistan has decisions to make, and we hope that they will be a partner in safeguarding the region,” she said, when asked about a recent statement by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif regarding the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

“US expects more from Pakistan and hopes it will play a major role in maintaining peace,” she added.

On January 1, US President Donald Trump had said that the US ‘foolishly’ gave aid to Pakistan over the course of 15 years but Islamabad remained deceitful by providing safe havens to ‘terrorists’ from Afghanistan. Pakistan Army, while rejecting the Trump administration’s pressure to do more in the fight against terrorism, insisted that Pakistan had done enough and could not do more for anyone. In what appeared to be a policy decision, the unusually candid statement – coming from ISPR chief Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor – suggested that Pakistan would not accept any further US demands.

Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the US hit a new low recently when the latter imposed travel restrictions on Pakistani diplomats which were reciprocated by the former. In Friday’s briefing, the Pentagon chief spokesperson was also asked about the massacre of 60 Palestinians following the United States Embassy’s inauguration in Jerusalem on Monday. “Israel has the right of self-defense and it has the right to protect its border,” said White, adding that the US was monitoring the situation. “We’ll continue to keep a sharp eye on the situation as well as our embassies around the world.” When asked if she could justify the civilian casualties on Gaza border, White repeated that the US is going to continue to monitor the situation, reiterating “Israel has the right of self-defense”.

Published in Daily Times, May 19^th 2018.