A group of U.S experts have urged the Donald Trump administration to take a tough line towards Pakistan and stop “viewing and portraying Pakistan as an ally”.
“The new U.S. administration should recognise that Pakistan is not an American ally”, said a report by the experts, which called for “a new U.S. approach to Pakistan”, one that involves enforcing conditions for aid, without cutting ties.
Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center, The Heritage Foundation and Husain Haqqani, Director South & Central Asia, Hudson Institute, were the co-chairs of the panel.
“Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems... At the same time, Pakistan is an important country that is willing to cooperate occasionally and partially with the United States,” the report said. The experts urged the Trump administration to work closely with China to rein in Pakistani support for terrorism. “The U.S. must lead efforts, including at multilateral forums, to sanction Pakistani terrorist groups and individuals. In particular, Washington must seek to work more closely with China, which shares concerns about the presence of terrorist groups in the region and the threat they pose to the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
“While China will avoid steps that embarrass Pakistani leaders or that significantly skew the two countries’ historically close ties, Beijing may be willing to work with Washington behind the scenes to press Pakistan to crack down on terrorists within its territory. Gulf Arab countries, too, must be encouraged to press Pakistan to change its direction,” they argued in the report.
