Former president Asif Ali Zardari has stated that halting finance for F-16s fighter jets purchase by the US authorities clearly indicates distance in Pak-US relations.
In a statement on Tuesday, Asif Ali Zardari said, “Pak-US relations are badly affected in the past 15 years.”
Zardari urged the US to “look beyond its checklist of requirements for cooperation on our security needs and instead think strategically about how it can support a democratic nation under pressure from the same terror groups that threaten regional security”.
“The struggle between Pakistan and the US over funding for the purchase of F-16 fighter jets lays bare how far apart the two countries have grown,” he said, adding, “What was once a strong partnership… has frayed and is getting weaker.”
He said in the past, bilateral ties between Pakistan and US were strengthened owing to the Russian threat in the region.
The PPP leader expressed hope that US State Department officials currently in Pakistan for meetings with top government officials will “take this opportunity to assure us that they remain committed to supporting our security needs”.
Zardari went on to say, “Pakistan has emerged as a strong democratic country in the region. Peace and development made it strong democratic state.”
“We are literally fighting for our lives,” he said, inviting “factions in the US Congress that don’t believe we are committed to fighting terrorists” to come to Pakistan and “bear witness to the violence” as a result of terrorism.
Recent statements by both countries describe a “dysfunctional” relationship, he said, taking note of a damning editorial published by the New York Times last week which implicated Pakistan for the mess in Afghanistan and termed Islamabad a “duplicitous” and “dangerous” partner for the US and Afghanistan.
However, he added, in recent comments by the US State Department “can read as supportive of Pakistan’s needs for new weapon systems to step up its fight against terror”.
