Pakistan to benefit from peaceful Afghanistan, says American diplomat

WASHINGTON: Pakistan will benefit from a stable and peaceful Afghanistan, said a top American diplomat Alice G Wells.

Speaking about the recent visit of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Pakistan, she said the secretary during a meeting with the Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership underlined that the Afghan strategy was an opportunity since Pakistan, with the exception of Afghanistan, has the most to benefit from a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

Acting Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs Alice G. Wells who is also Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan was speaking at a press briefing.

She said that despite several critical junctures over the last 70 years, the US has worked very closely with Pakistan, and the recovery of a Canadian-US couple from the clutches of the Taliban was an example of what both the counties can do when they were all moving in the same direction.

Under the strategy, the US has laid out some very specific expectations of how Pakistan can help create the conditions that will help bring the Taliban to the table, she said.

She insisted this was not about giving dictation to Pakistan. “We have described our strategy, we’ve described a very important role for Pakistan, who we see as a very important country in the region, but it’s up to them whether or not they want to work with us on this strategy.”

She said Tillerson welcomed Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s trip to Kabul and both countries’ commitment to ensure that neither country’s territory or soil would be used against another.