Looking past recriminations

It was by all indications a heart-to-heart meeting at the White House on Tuesday with both Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and US National Security Adviser H R McMaster delving into some of the trickier issues that have caused friction between Pakistan and the United States in recent years. Differences exist between close allies, as Mr Dar later explained after the hour-long discussions, but the atmosphere stayed positive and congenial throughout, rekindling the hope of some improvement in their ties.

Mr Dar was accompanied by Ambassador Aizaz Chaudhry and the defence attaché at Pakistan’s diplomatic mission. In Mr McMaster’s corner was Lisa Curtis, who looks after South Asian affairs at the National Security Council. In the run-up to the meeting, Mr McMaster had made some harsh comments about Pakistan, arguing that the country should act less selectively when going after militant groups and pursue its interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere through the use of diplomacy and not through the use of proxies — an accusation repeated often enough by Ms Curtis and vehemently denied as many times by Islamabad.

Mindful that it was the first official meeting in Washington between representatives of Pakistan and the Trump administration, members of the Pakistani team took pains to explain to their hosts that Islamabad was and is committed to peace in Afghanistan and the entire region.

Mr Dar said the Pakistani side made it abundantly clear that it would not allow its territory to be used against any country not did it expect others to use their territory against Pakistan. Islamabad is justified in demanding that other countries make the same commitment that Washington expects it to fulfill. Now that the two sides have placed their grievances on the table and identified the irritants, the stage appears set for designing ways to address the same with mutual consent.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2017.

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