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BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (APP): The United States on Friday acknowledged Pakistan’s legitimate security interests in Afghanistan, with its top envoy for the region welcoming Pakistani leadership’s statement that the country would be part of the solution to the decades-old regional conflict.“We have said repeatedly that Pakistan and other countries have legitimate security interests in what happens in Afghanistan. That’s natural,” US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said. “So, the Pakistanis must be part of the solution if Afghanistan is going to have a peaceful resolution of 32 years of war,” he remarked at a Press interaction.Holbrooke, who led the US delegation at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan
meeting in the European capital, welcomed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s recent statement on Islamabad’s being a part of the solution to regional problem.
“I was very gratified to see that Prime Minister Gilani last week said exactly this that Pakistan is and will be a part of a solution, and for the regional issues. And this will be a major topic of disucssion at the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue in Washington next week,” said Holbrooke, with new US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter seated next to him.
The American diplomat’s comments came amid NATO and US officials’ expression of support for a Afghan-led reconciliation process in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai has authorized efforts toward reintegrating the Taliban who subscribe to Kabul’s constitution and renounce violence.
Ambassador Holbrooke underlined the significance the US attaches to its strategic partnership with Pakistan by noting it is unprecedented that within a year three ministerial-level sessions of the dialogue are taking place.
The Obama Administration’s special envoy said the recent incident on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan (which led to death of two Pakistani soldiers in a NOTO missile strike and was followed by temporary closure of Torkham route for NATO supplies) has not affected the US support for Pakistan in dealing with aftermath of the devastating floods.
“There was an extremely unfortunate incident on the border. I perfectly well understand the concerns of the Pakistani military and they expressed them in an open fashion and the two countreis made a very important decision to have a joint investigation, which is something that has not happened in the past.
Secondly, the border is now open. Third, the incident on the border had no effect whatsoever on America’s support for Pakistan’s flood relief. No effect. There was not one second’s pause.
“Our support for the people of Pakistan in this emergency caused by this tremendous catastrophe is unrelated to political and strategic issues, we do it because it is the right thing to do.”
The United States, he said, is proud of the fact that it once again was the first and with the most assistance in helping Pakistan in the face of the natural calamity.
“We will always do it for Pakistan. We did in 2005 in the earthquake and we did it this year.”
“So there are three issues here. The border incident was serious. The border is now open. It had no effect on our support for the Pakistani people or anything else.”
Holbrooke was pleased the way countries from around have responded to the epic floods in Pakistan and stressed that this coming together of Muslim and non-Muslim nations in support of Pakistan contradicts the notion that the world may be experiencing a civilizational clash.
“The world has responded. The private citizens of the US, the Congress has allowed us to reprogram Kerry-Lugar-Berman money. The European Union has stepped up to the plate, Japan, Turkey.”
Making a broader point, Holbrooke observed: “In both cases (Pakistan and Afghanistan) with so many nations supporting this effort from the OIC - Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhzstan, Malaysia (all of them are not here, they will be in Rome as part of the international contact group) - there is a whole set of other nations.
“The core point here is that the argument of the extremists - al-Qaeda and the Taliban - that this is a clash of civilizations - is completely wrong. The world can see that the Muslim nations and non-Muslim nations alike meet together to support democracy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And we are very pleased with that. These are heartening signs that this is not a cultural, civilizational clash.”
meeting in the European capital, welcomed Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s recent statement on Islamabad’s being a part of the solution to regional problem.
“I was very gratified to see that Prime Minister Gilani last week said exactly this that Pakistan is and will be a part of a solution, and for the regional issues. And this will be a major topic of disucssion at the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue in Washington next week,” said Holbrooke, with new US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter seated next to him.
The American diplomat’s comments came amid NATO and US officials’ expression of support for a Afghan-led reconciliation process in insurgency-hit Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai has authorized efforts toward reintegrating the Taliban who subscribe to Kabul’s constitution and renounce violence.
Ambassador Holbrooke underlined the significance the US attaches to its strategic partnership with Pakistan by noting it is unprecedented that within a year three ministerial-level sessions of the dialogue are taking place.
The Obama Administration’s special envoy said the recent incident on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan (which led to death of two Pakistani soldiers in a NOTO missile strike and was followed by temporary closure of Torkham route for NATO supplies) has not affected the US support for Pakistan in dealing with aftermath of the devastating floods.
“There was an extremely unfortunate incident on the border. I perfectly well understand the concerns of the Pakistani military and they expressed them in an open fashion and the two countreis made a very important decision to have a joint investigation, which is something that has not happened in the past.
Secondly, the border is now open. Third, the incident on the border had no effect whatsoever on America’s support for Pakistan’s flood relief. No effect. There was not one second’s pause.
“Our support for the people of Pakistan in this emergency caused by this tremendous catastrophe is unrelated to political and strategic issues, we do it because it is the right thing to do.”
The United States, he said, is proud of the fact that it once again was the first and with the most assistance in helping Pakistan in the face of the natural calamity.
“We will always do it for Pakistan. We did in 2005 in the earthquake and we did it this year.”
“So there are three issues here. The border incident was serious. The border is now open. It had no effect on our support for the Pakistani people or anything else.”
Holbrooke was pleased the way countries from around have responded to the epic floods in Pakistan and stressed that this coming together of Muslim and non-Muslim nations in support of Pakistan contradicts the notion that the world may be experiencing a civilizational clash.
“The world has responded. The private citizens of the US, the Congress has allowed us to reprogram Kerry-Lugar-Berman money. The European Union has stepped up to the plate, Japan, Turkey.”
Making a broader point, Holbrooke observed: “In both cases (Pakistan and Afghanistan) with so many nations supporting this effort from the OIC - Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhzstan, Malaysia (all of them are not here, they will be in Rome as part of the international contact group) - there is a whole set of other nations.
“The core point here is that the argument of the extremists - al-Qaeda and the Taliban - that this is a clash of civilizations - is completely wrong. The world can see that the Muslim nations and non-Muslim nations alike meet together to support democracy in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And we are very pleased with that. These are heartening signs that this is not a cultural, civilizational clash.”
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