Pakistan to take regional consensus over Trump’s new policy: Khawaja Asif

KARACHI: The leadership in Pakistan has planned on visiting its allies surrounding Afghanistan in order to take them into confidence regarding the policy announced by United States President Donald Trump, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday.

While speaking on the Geo News show, Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, the foreign minister said that they went to Saudi Arabia a day earlier to speak to the Saudi leadership and explain the matter to them. 

“We will contact China, Russia [and other countries of the region] in the coming days in order to get a regional consensus and a solution.”

The foreign minister said he would also go to the US to put the matter on the table for talks with the leadership there. 

While reiterating Asif’s comments, a South Asia expert, Moeed Yusuf, said it was important for the Pakistani leadership to present that matter for talks, as without doing so the two countries might miscalculate each other’s red line.

Asif further said Pakistan wants peace in the region not only for itself but also for the people in the region, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

"Pakistan would never want unrest in Afghanistan as it would also clash with the country’s own interest," the foreign minister added.

However, Asif said, in an attempt to find a peaceful solution with the US, Pakistan would not keep unrealistic expectations. 

"Nevertheless, since talking straight is the need of the hour, Pakistan would do so," the country’s foreign minister maintained.

According to Yusuf, people in both the US and Pakistan do not want relations between the two countries to 'rupture'. 

“But now that such extreme positions have surfaced, the matter might go to an unfavourable extent.”

On August 22, Trump backtracked from his promise to end America’s longest war while pillorying Pakistan for offering safe haven to “agents of chaos”.

"We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," he said, warning that vital aid could be cut. “That will have to change and that will change immediately.”

However, earlier on Thursday, Asif said the National Security Committee completely rejected Trump's allegations against Pakistan. “Scapegoating Pakistan won't stabilise Afghanistan,” the foreign minister had said.