Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says the United States and Pakistan must move beyond past tensions over Afghanistan and are entering a new engagement after years of strained relations under former prime minister Imran Khan.
Bhutto Zardari spoke in an interview with The Associated Press in New York, where he was attending meetings this week on the global food crisis at UN headquarters. He has also held talks with top diplomats, including a one-hour discussion with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Bhutto Zardari called the meeting with Blinken “very encouraging and very positive and productive”.
“We believe that Pakistan must continue to engage with the United States at all levels,” he said. “This meeting was indeed an important first step.”
US-Pakistani ties deteriorated under Khan, who as prime minister tapped into anti-American sentiment in Pakistan that has spread ever since Khan accused the Biden administration of colluding with the opposition to oust him, a claim the administration denies.
Afghanistan also raised mistrust between the two countries. Washington felt Islamabad did too little to help ensure peace as the US and Nato withdrew their troops from Afghanistan; Pakistan insists it did all it could to broker peace. During the final weeks of the American withdrawal, the Taliban overran Kabul in mid-August and seized power.
Bhutto Zardari said the Pakistan-US relationship in the past had been “too coloured by the events in Afghanistan, of the geopolitical considerations, and it’s time for us to move beyond that to engage in a far broader, deeper and more meaningful relationship.”
Under Khan, Pakistan pushed hard for the world to engage with Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers, and Bhutto Zardari said his country continues to do so.
“Regardless of what we feel about the regime in Afghanistan,” the world can’t abandon the Afghan people and must immediately address the country’s humanitarian crisis and crumbling economy, he said. A total collapse of the Afghan economy would be a disaster for Afghans, Pakistan and the international community, he said, expressing concern that many Afghans would flee the country.
Pakistan is also insisting the Taliban live up to their international commitments that the country not be used for terrorism, that girls and women be able to pursue education, and that they form an inclusive government, he said.
The Taliban, however, have taken a more hard-line turn in recent weeks, imposing new restrictions on women.
Bhutto Zardari said the more the humanitarian crisis is alleviated and the economy is saved from collapse, “the more likely we are to succeed in our pursuit for women’s rights and the more likely we are to succeed in our efforts against terrorism.”
He said his focus in talks with Blinken was on increasing trade, particularly in agriculture, information technology and energy. He said he is looking forward to working with the US on an initiative to empower women, including women entrepreneurs.
On economic, defense and military coordination, “if we continue to engage, then we can move forward in a more positive direction,” Bhutto Zardari said.
