US must quit playing to galleries: Khawaja Asif

WASHINGTON: Living up to his reputation of being outspoken, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif told the US to quit playing to the galleries and blaming his country for its own failures.

In a very candid talk on Thursday at the United States Institute for Peace, the minister roared back at the critics saying that Pakistan was not only fighting the war against terrorism but also winning unabatedly.

At times he also appeared furious at the allegations leveled against Pakistan for supporting terrorist outfits and reiterated that the country was taking action against such organisations without any discrimination.

Pakistan, he said, is not just fighting but also winning against terrorism. “We are not supporting any form of terrorism, any organisation, in any manifestation,” Asif further said referring to the military operations that Pakistan Army had undertaken to root out militant outfits. “Since 2014,we have wiped them out,” he said adding that even Afghanistan should learn from Pakistan’s experience to curb sanctuaries from its land.

“The national political consensus created the necessary space for a massive and a rapid counterinsurgency campaign that mobilised nearly 200,000 troops. It dealt a decisive blow to all terrorist networks that had taken advantage of the remote geography of the treacherous border with Afghanistan,” he said.

Quoting Robert Frost’s famous line, “Good fences make good neighbours,” the minister said that Pakistan wants friendly relations with Afghanistan.

He insisted that Afghanistan needs to eliminate safe havens from its territory and manage its border. “Pakistan calls for effective elimination of these safe havens in Afghanistan,” he said, “large ungoverned territories in Afghanistan under influence of non-state groups pose a security risk to the whole region and above all to Afghanistan itself.”

He added, “What is often forgotten is that Pakistan has been conducting series of  major counter-terrorism operations for over a decade and has progressively secured all territory on its side of the border.” He further said “Pakistan is taking a number of steps such as building border posts and fencing the border with Afghanistan to reduce cross border movement of militants.”

Answering a question, the foreign minister told the audience that the Taliban were in talks with Kabul and were discussing constitutional reforms. “Ensuring security in Afghanistan is critical for the region,” he said adding Pakistan will be the beneficiary of it after Afghanistan.

Khawaja Asif also mentioned President Trump’s statement that “Pakistan has much to gain partnering with our effort in Afghanistan,” and agreed to it saying that it would be beneficial for Pakistan. “How could we deny it,” he said and then urged the United States to also acknowledge Pakistan’s achievements and efforts and offer respect in return, instead of blame.

He remarked that Pakistan sided with the US during its fight against the Soviet Union and the country has been suffering since then. “We are living in hell,” the minister retorted, “The sad part is, America went away chest thumping after that,” and Pakistan was left to deal with the rest.The minister reiterated that a trust deficit exists between the two countries for a reason. He said that terrorist outfits were liabilities and Pakistan needs time to get rid of them. “We can’t pay them off overnight. They have been there for a long time. We need time to ask them to wrap up their business,” he said. He also stressed that he does not speak against the government’s policy. He equated his government’s struggle in rooting out terrorist groups with the efforts against the gun lobby in the United States. To another question, he emphasised that there was no danger to democracy in the country.

Earlier, he spoke at length about the pertinent issues between the US and Pakistan. “The last four years have transformed the landscape of Pakistan. Democratic institutions continue to thrive, terrorism is being vigorously combated, economy is being stabilised and is poised for rapid growth,” he said adding, “Yet, converting our domestic security and economic gains into wider regional stability remains a big challenge due to continued conflict in Afghanistan.”

He said the burden of a 16-year-long war in Afghanistan has been passed to the new administration. “For Pakistan, the timeline of managing fallout of Afghan instability is 38 years and counting. It is more than half of our life as an independent nation.”

Asif elaborated that the country considers itself a longstanding friend of the US; and that the relationship is underpinned by certain shared values. “Salient among these are respect for democracy, rule of law and protecting the freedom of our societies from dark ideological forces — whether these come in the garb of totalitarianism or take the form of violent extremism,” he said.