Islamabad: Pakistan was no foe of the United States but by constantly blaming the former for its own failures in Afghanistan, Washington was slowly severing its ties with Islamabad, says a report in “The Nation” daily here today.
The report by Sana Eqbal in the daily says that the US President Donald Trump’s crude speech in which he committed the United States into an open war with insurgents in Afghanistan and lambasted Pakistan for ‘harbouring militant safe heavens’ has emerged as the first diplomatic challenge for the nascent Government of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Trump, in his hard-hitting speech at a military base in Washington, called on Pakistan’s arch-rival India to aid the US in its longest war in Afghanistan, and said his administration would assist New Delhi in building infrastructure of the war-torn country.
Analysts say Trump’s open invitation to the Modi regime is aimed at tackling China’s growing influence in Afghanistan.
But a Washington-New Delhi cooperation, which is no longer behind closed doors, means Islamabad has to act cautiously.
