‘Pak-US relations on downturn in 2018’

Islamabad: Executive Director at Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS) Islamabad Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi on Thursday has said that Pakistan-US relations took a dramatic downturn with the start of 2018.

He said the bilateral relationship has entered uncharted waters, with ominous overtones of further punitive measures that may be taken by the United States against Pakistan, and options considered in response by the Pakistani leadership.

“Khawaja Asif’s contestation of Trump’s figure of $33 billion as the quantum of US assistance to Pakistan over 15 years or so is valid,” he added. Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi further said that however, what is at stake, is not the accounts but the broader implications of such retaliatory action against each other for the two countries.

He said the irony is that the US action is stated to have been taken for Pakistan’s inadequate action against terrorism, as it is the latter’s avowed policy and determined action to eliminate terrorism. This is a common and shared objective. Therefore it is time for cool and calm diplomacy to take the lead and arrest a decline towards mutual hostility and recrimination which will do no good to either side he said.