Abbasi-Pence meeting: Defence attaché was part of meeting, says Pak envoy

WASHINGTON: Contrary to speculations in the Pakistani media, Pakistan’s defence attaché in Washington Brigadier Kamal Anwar not only coordinated a recent meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and US Vice President Mike Pence, but also remained present during discussions as a note-taker.

In an interview with The News, Pakistan’s Ambassador in the United States Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the surprise meeting during Abbasi’s private visit last month was meant to be one-on-one but one person each from both sides was allowed to remain present as a note-taker.

“So the defence attaché who was coordinating that meeting became part of the same as a note-taker,” said the ambassador.

Back in Pakistan, some defense analysts speculated that Pakistan’s internal politics had come under discussion in the rare high-level meeting and that the embassy staff was not allowed to be part of the meeting.

However, another senior official at the Pakistan’s embassy also confirmed that the Pence-Abbasi meeting was aimed at breaking a stalemate in security ties between the two former allies in the war on terror and the two sides mainly discussed bilateral security cooperation.

To a question about recent signs of improvement in the US-Pakistan ties, the ambassador said there was realisation on both side that relationships were very important.

“We have been saying to them that this relationship is broad-based and Pakistan should be viewed in its own right as a country that is important and that has multi-faceted relationship with the United States in all areas including education, health, trade, information technology and agriculture and defense and counter-terrorism”.

He has Pakistan should not be viewed only from the prism of Afghanistan or any other prism.

“Yes, the situation in Afghanistan is a matter of concern for both Pakistan and the United States; therefore, it is our desire that the two countries should work together to help stabilise the situation in Afghanistan and bring a lasting peace there.”

To a question about the US demand for action against Haqqani network, Chaudhry said Pakistan had taken all necessary steps in the last three years to eliminate safe havens and sanctuaries of terrorists.

“We can say confidently that there is no organised presence of any terrorist group in Pakistan and no safe havens. We have deployed 200,000 troops on the border with Afghanistan which is the highest deployment in the world against terrorism”.

He said the results achieved by the deployment and intelligence-based operations were a proof of Pakistan’s full commitment to eliminate terrorism from our soil.

Commenting on continuous US criticism of Pakistan, Ambassador Chaudhry said owing to gap between what was being said here (Washington) and the actual work that had been done by Pakistan, sometimes it was perceived in Islamabad that perhaps the country was being scapegoated for failure in Afghanistan.

Pakistan, he said, was not responsible for a lack of progress in Afghanistan, as there were multiple reasons for that.

There are governance issues, serious corruption issues and there is a huge drug trade flourishing in Afghanistan. “Therefore to say that the be-all and end-all of Afghanistan is only Pakistan is an over-simplification of this fact.”

He said according to US reports the Afghan territory not under the government-control was growing and there were nearly 20 terror outfits operating there including Daesh or the ISIS.

As for Taliban, Pakistan is squeezing space for them.

“Our clear message to Taliban is that you are Afghans and you should go back to Afghanistan and join the political mainstream.”

Ambassador Chaudhry said Pakistan had pushed out many Taliban during the last six months after the announcement of South Asia strategy by US President Donald Trump.

“We are doing our part and we will continue to do so but we also expect that other parties, including the Americans, will also do their part to address our concerns.”

Listing Pakistan’s concerns the ambassador said there were safe havens in Afghanistan from which terror attacks are being launched by anti-Pakistan elements like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Secondly, he said growth of Daesh in Afghanistan was a matter of great concern for Pakistan.

Thirdly, the use of Afghan soil by India to create instability in Pakistan by sending spies and militants was also a matter of great concern for us.

“India is now trying to create a two-front situation for Pakistan and Afghan government and US government must not allow India to play that role in Afghanistan.”

Talking about fencing of Pak-Afghan border, ambassador Chaudhry said Pakistan wanted the US and Afghan governments to take similar steps because border could not be fully secure unless it was managed from both sides.

“It is in our common interest that no terrorist should be allowed to cross the border this way or that way.”