Days after the Pentagon announced it is withholding $50 million intended for Pakistan as part of its Coalition Support Fund, the South Asian country’s ambassador told an audience in Washington that Pakistan remains determined to fight terrorism.
“All that Pakistan has done in the fight against terrorism has not been sufficiently factored” into Pentagon’s decision, Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry lamented during a discussion at the Washington office of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Chaudhry said Pakistan considers it is in its own interest to fight terrorism, and it stands “ready to work with the United States.”
Pakistan has facilitated air and ground logistical support for U.S. troops in Afghanistan “like no one” else, Chaudhry said, adding that “since 2001, all air corridors from Pakistan have been available to the United States free of cost.”
The reason Pakistan did so “was because we believed this was a common war," the ambassador said, but there have been occasions when U.S. actions have left his country's leaders thinking "that perhaps we are not partners.”
Chaudhry argued that the Coalition Support Funds money that was cut off should be seen as a reimbursement of services, not as aid. Asked during the IISS discussion whether Pakistan would insist on a full payment of the funding before providing U.S. troops with air and ground supply routes, he said, “These and all other issues are always negotiated, because that is in the nature of the business.”
Speaking to VOA after the forum, the ambassador said: “Pakistan has cooperated with the United States in its mission in Afghanistan, we will continue to do so, but all these things are talked [about] by the concerned people at the table.”
Pakistan may not be the only party to question the other’s sincerity. Questions concerning Islamabad’s commitment to the bilateral partnership have also been raised by the U.S. A prime example was the discovery in 2011 that al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden had been living undisturbed near a key Pakistani military facility.
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said he withheld $50 million in Coalition Support Funds because he couldn’t certify to Congress that Pakistan had taken sufficient action against the Haqqani network, a Taliban-associated organization which the U.S. has deemed a Foreign Terrorist Organization, since September 2012. The group has been blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, which have contributed to the country’s destabilization, an issue of concern to the U.S.
For its part, Islamabad’s message is don’t drop “every security lapse in Afghanistan on Pakistan’s doorsteps,” as the country’s ambassador to the U.S. put it.
The Pakistani envoy’s remarks came at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been reviewing its overall strategy toward South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Chaudhry contrasted the U.S.-Pakistan friction with his country’s relations with China, which has been investing heavily in Pakistan as part of its One Belt-One Road initiative.
Pakistan and China “have so much of meeting of minds” and no “policy differences at all,” he told VOA. "We support each other's causes. Chinese people respect us, and we respect them."
In a subsequent statement to VOA, the Pakistani Embassy in Washington again stressed the need for respect.
“Pakistan looks forward to working with the United States in achieving enduring peace and prosperity in the region as a shared interest and on the basis of mutual respect,” it said.
The statement also highlighted Chaudhry’s remarks at the IISS forum about Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against terror.
It urged Washington to develop “an accurate appreciation of Pakistan’s actions against terrorism and its cooperation with [the] international community” which included Pakistan’s “past and ongoing successful counter terrorism operations” as well as “a staggering human and financial cost that the people of Pakistan have paid.”
In his interview with VOA, Chaudhry said he remained “very optimistic” about bilateral ties with the United States and sees points of convergence between the two countries increasing. “There is every reason for us to continue to work together,” he said.
In discussing Pakistan-China relations, Chaudhry told VOA “the clearest example and manifestation” of Sino-Pakistan ties has come in the form of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, stretching 3,000 kilometers from Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang region to the Pakistani port city of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.