ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday a “new chapter” had been opened in ties between the United States and Pakistan a day after US President Donald Trump welcomed Pakistani premier Imran Khan to the White House in a bid to mend relations and seek help in ending an 18-year-old war in neighboring Afghanistan.
Seated next to Khan in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump spoke about improving trade with Pakistan and said he expected Khan would help negotiate peace in Afghanistan so United States troops could come home.
“We have seen a new beginning; a new chapter is being opened,” Qureshi said at a press conference in Washington. “We should take this positively and hope that things will get better,” he said, adding that Pakistan was focused on “economic diplomacy” and wanted to boost trade with the US.
“The world looks at economics and looks for ways to cater to its own economic needs, so we will try that we also move forward in that direction,” Qureshi said, adding that Trump had accepted Khan’s invitation to visit Pakistan.
During Monday’s meeting, Trump spoke of possibly restoring $1.3 billion in American aid that he had cut last year. Both the leaders also discussed ways to boost bilateral trade as President Trump said the US was willing to invest more in Pakistan and wanted to expand trade by up to 20 times.
President Trump also said bilateral relations between the countries had improved in recent months: “To be honest, we have a better relationship with Pakistan right now than we did when we were paying the money,” he said, referring to last year’s decision to suspend US security assistance to Pakistan to compel it to crack down on militants.
The comments were a far cry from last year when Trump had complained on Twitter that the Pakistanis “have given us nothing but lies & deceit” and “give safe haven” to militants. Pakistan has denied the accusations.
Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who accompanied Khan to Washington, also met the top American military officer, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford in Washington. Analysts believe Bajwa will play a key role in behind-the-scenes discussions, with the military looking to persuade Washington to restore aid and cooperation.
Commenting on optics of the Khan-Trump meeting, foreign affairs expert Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi said both sides wanted to improve the bilateral relationship through a new framework whose details would be settled in the next few months through meetings between officials of the two governments.
“American support to Pakistan will depend on two things, to what extent Pakistan is willing to facilitate agreement with [Afghan] Taliban and withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and secondly if Pakistan continues action against militants on its soil,” Askari said.
“Pakistan’s military to military and civilian government’s relationship with the US will improve manifold in the coming months, if we stop pursuing a dual-track approach,” Rizvi said, referring to accusations in the past that Pakistan was selective in its crackdown on terrorists.
After a one-on-one meeting with Khan, President Trump said he could win the Afghan war in just 10 days by wiping out Afghanistan but did not want to kill 10 million people.
“There is no military solution in Afghanistan,” Khan said in agreement. “If you go all-out military, there would be millions and millions of people who would die.”
“I think Pakistan is going to do a lot [with respect to Afghanistan],” Trump said. “I really do. I think Pakistan is going to make a big difference.”