Qureshi urges US not to lose ‘old friends’

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan is trying to reconnect with the United States, its old ally, as Washington’s priorities have changed in the region where it has forged a strategic relationship with India.

“You can have new friends, but why lose old friends,” he posed the question at a large gathering of American academics, analysts, international affairs students and journalists at Asia Society in New York.

The foreign minister said Pakistan wanted peace in the region, but on the other hand, India was trying to escape from a dialogue. The US, he added, could play a role in resolving the outstanding disputes between India and Pakistan.

Qureshi also said Pakistan wanted to play a positive role in Afghanistan, but that Afghanistan was not the only responsibility of it.

Responding to question about the state of US-Pakistan relations, he said, “I’m here to reconnect.”

He said he was meeting US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Washington on October 2, pointing out that the decision to hold these follow-up talks was taken during the US top diplomat’s visit to Islamabad earlier this month.

During Pompeo’s visit to Pakistan, he said there was a good exchange of views between the two sides on matters of mutual concern. Pompeo interacted with the country’s civil and military leadership and found them on the same page.

Noting that US priorities had changed and that it had a new friend in the region — India, he said, adding “But please understand the value of long-standing friendship with Pakistan.”

“Pakistan and the US can’t do without each other. Have new ones but why loose old friends?,” the minister added.

“We need to see how to manage this new relationship [with the US] and expectations.”

Qureshi stressed the need for strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, and not just connect with each other over Afghanistan. Currently, he remarked, “The road to Washington is via Kabul.”

The foreign minister discussed at length Pakistan’s relations with its neighbours, Afghanistan and India, ties with the US, and the country’s relationship with China, as well as its role in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.