Pakistan has told the United States in categorical terms that it would have strong reservations if any role was given to India in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from the country.
This information was given to the Standing Committee of the Senate on Defence by the Defence Secretary Lt General (r) Asif Yasin which met on Thursday with Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in the chair.
He said the US has been informed that peace and stability in Afghanistan were needed for Pakistan and the entire world while instability in Afghanistan would create problems for Pakistan more than any other country. He said there were 2.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and if the situation deteriorated after the US withdrawal more refugees could enter Pakistan.
The secretary said that under the international agreement Pakistan was bound to ensure smooth supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan. He said blockade of NATO supplies was a political issue which was to be resolved by the federal and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments.
Yasin said that if the US and Afghanistan did not reach an agreement it would be difficult for Washington to keep its forces in Afghanistan.
The defence secretary said, “Pakistan itself will have to resolve the soft border issue with Afghanistan soon priority basis and for this we will have to first set our own house in order.”
He told the committee that there was no proposal under consideration to send the Pakistan Army to Saudi Arabia or Egypt.
The committee condemned the demand by the US for the release of Dr Shakil Afridi and expressed its regrets over double standards of the US. It pointed out that despite close relations with Israel, the US refused to release its spies while on the other Pakistan is being pressurised for the handing over of Afridi.
The secretary said Pakistan had adopted a principled and categorical stance that it would not handover Afridi.
Syed said that the Pak-US relations were entering in a new era and pointed out that Pakistani aid was being linked to the release of Afridi. He also said that the US was following double standards by refusing to give immunity to an Indian diplomat while it got CIA spy Raymond Davis released under the pretext of diplomatic immunity.
The secretary said that during Pak-US defence consultation group meeting, he was informed that the US Defence Department was preparing a post-2014 roadmap. He said the US has been told that it was necessary to take Pakistan into confidence about situation after the withdrawal of foreign forces in 2014.
He said Pakistan also told the US about increase in Indian defence budget pointing out that the increase in the Indian defence budget was equal to Pakistan’s annual defence budget. He said scrutiny of coalition support fund was right of the US and for some time its release was going on without any suspension.
To a question, Yasin said that there has been reduction in drone attacks for the past some time. He said this was either due to Pakistani pressure or non-availability of targets to the US.
Earlier, the DHA officials briefed the committee about the land bought from the Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim. The secretary said that if the land was sold cheaply to DHA, it was the fault of the two institutions and not of DHA. He said the DHA had acquired 881 acres of land from the KPT and 735 acres from Port Qasim on lease.
