Pakistan seeks more engagement with US over situation in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD Pakistan is seeking further engagement with the US over the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, officers and experts have said, as a US Congress delegation is in Islamabad for addresses on bilateral and indigenous ties.

Pakistan-US relations have been strained in recent months after Afghanistan’s Western- backed administration collapsed inmid-August as US- led forces withdrew and the Taliban took control. In September, Republican legislators pressed for legislation that would permission Pakistan for furnishing a safe haven for the Taliban, an blameworthiness that Islamabad denies.

The move has raised hackles among Pakistan’s leaders, who have slammed Washington for what they say is unjust condemning of Pakistan for US losses in Afghanistan, especially after seeking and entering Islamabad’s help in the prolonged peace addresses with the Taliban last time.

The US Congress delegation on Monday had a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, during which the Pakistani leader said Islamabad and Washington demanded to “ consolidate engagement to promote peace, stability and profitable development in Afghanistan” and address its fiscal liquidity issues to help a philanthropic extremity and profitable collapse.

On Tuesday, US House Foreign Affairs Committee president Gregory Meeks met Pakistan’s National Security AdviserDr. Moeed Yusuf.

Pakistan concentrated to influence its geo-profitable position by partnering with the world under the profitable security model,” Yusuf said in a statement after the meeting. He added that Pakistan wants US profitable hookups and investment.

As the Afghan frugality has plunged into profitable extremity following the Taliban preemption, with transnational benefactors suspending billions of bones in backing and the US blocking Kabul’s access to nearly$ 10 billion in Afghan central bank means, Yusuf said the problem “ must be resolved snappily to forestall the collapse of the system.”
Experts see US-Pakistan engagement as necessary in addressing the situation.

“ US-Pakistan deeper engagement is essential as our real interests meet entirely in this regard,” Pakistan’s former Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told Arab News on Tuesday. “ It’s important for the US, as a world leader, to continue to play its necessary part for stability in Afghanistan and this region.”

Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, a professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, said Pakistan had invited the US to “ play their part in addressing the profitable meltdown in Afghanistan and avoid the philanthropic extremity.”

He added that the current meetings indicated that “ Americans still have interest in cultivating or sustaining better relations with Pakistan.”

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