Islamabad: Pakistan rejected on Wednesday the reports as ridiculous that it was lobbying Afghanistan to drop its alliance with Washington and look to Islamabad and Beijing to forge a peace deal with the Taliban and rebuild its economy.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani “bluntly” told Afghan President Hamid Karzai to “forget about allowing a long-term US military presence in his country”, according to Afghans present at an April 16 meeting between the two men.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told Reuters news agency that the reports was most ridiculous one they had come across.
“Reports claiming Gilani-Karzai discussion about Pakistan advising alignment away from US are inaccurate,” Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, Hussain Haqqani, wrote on his Twitter feed.
The Journal reported that Pakistan’s apparent bid to separate Afghanistan from the United States is a clear sign that tensions between Washington and Islamabad could threaten attempts to end the war in Afghanistan on favorable terms for the West.
Pakistan’s military has had long-running ties to the Afghan Taliban and has repeatedly said that the road to a settlement of the 10-year conflict in Afghanistan runs through Islamabad.
The Journal reported that Pakistan no longer has an incentive to allow the United States a leading role in what it considers its own backyard.
Prime Minister Gilani on Wednesday said Pakistan would maintain relations with the United States based on “mutual respect and interests”.
However, he added: “We’ll not compromise on national interests. We are not ready to compromise on our sovereignty, defence, integrity and self-respect, no matter how powerful the other is.”
Pakistan is now looking to secure its own interests in Afghanistan at the expense of the United States. Kabul and Islamabad also agreed at the meeting to include Pakistani military and intelligence officials in a commission seeking peace with the Taliban, giving Pakistan’s security establishment a formal role in any talks.
American officials are aware of the meeting, the paper reported, and assumed the leak was a negotiating tactic to secure more US aid to Afghanistan after 2014. The idea of China taking a leading role in Afghanistan “was fanciful at best,” the officials said.
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