Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman on Tuesday underscored the need for Pakistan and the US to foster mutual trust and move forward with clear goals of peace, security and development at a time when important transitions are taking place in the region and up to 2014.
In a speech to the Atlantic Council, Sherry advocated Pakistan’s case for greater trade access to the US as one of the pivots that could underpin the relationship over the long-term.
“At the same time, Islamabad and Washington have been able to restore their bilateral relationship after a stressful 2011 year and now multiple working groups on vital strategic issues of common concern are back working together.”
However, the Pakistani envoy noted that the immediate impact of 2014 NATO drawdown from Afghanistan was on everyone’s mind in Islamabad. She underlined the importance of the upcoming developments in the region saying “there can be no drawdown for Pakistan” as it had to live in the region.
She said Islamabad was pursuing a policy of its own regional pivot, which did not see Afghanistan as its strategic backyard and aimed at transforming Pakistan into a hub of trade and economic cooperation for Central and South Asia.
“It is very important to use the opportunity to bridge the gaps we may be facing in terms of understanding what we are looking for, where we are headed and what gains we can make as strategic allies together,” Sherry said of Pakistan-US ties at the widely-attended event, moderated by South Asia director of the council, Shuja Nawaz.
Sherry, who spoke in the backdrop of 2011 troubled bilateral relationship, particularly noted the need for bridging what she called the “cognitive disconnect”.
“Since 1980s the two countries have not drifted strategically apart so much as the fact that they have not been speaking to each other consistently about expectations and limits to each other’s capacity.”
“We need to understand each other better because we need to work together.”
Referring to imminent transitions in Afghanistan, she said, “There is a bandwidth of possibility and policy options between the two countries that we can leverage to achieve a great deal in the region as it transitions.”
“That transition is of great importance to us we have a clear strategic goal of securing and winning the peace together. This is very important. Pakistan has the most to lose from an unstable Afghanistan, and will support all Afghan-led roadmaps to a negotiated peace settlement. What we will not do is play favourites or treat Afghanistan. Pakistan has learnt important lessons from the past. We hope our other partners also use strategic lessons from history to navigate important policy frameworks for the way forward.”
She said the two countries needed to address the neuralgia of distrust that had built since US abandonment of the region in the aftermath of 1989 Soviet pullout from Afghanistan. In this respect, she cited the importance of maintaining predictability, trust and confidence in the relationship.
The ambassador also spoke of Pakistan’s sacrifices and sufferings in the fight against terror as well as the colossal economic losses in investment and business activity due to prolonged conflict on its western border, saying the narrative in Washington must take into account these repercussions.
Regarding the contentious issue of drone operations that the US launches to target suspected militant targets in the Tribal Areas, Sherry said using the unmanned aerial vehicles inside Pakistani territory was not a good idea.
She reiterated Islamabad’s position that drone strikes breached the country’s sovereignty and international laws and risk having diminishing returns for the United States in terms of its image and fuelling militancy.
