War On Terror: ‘US realises Pakistan’s significance’

ISLAMABAD: Former diplomat Shahid Amin has said that the realisation has emerged in the US leadership that Pakistan is a very significant country in terms of the war on terror, and added that the trust deficit and misunderstandings need to be removed. Talking to Radio Pakistan on Saturday, he said Pakistan-US relations have to be improved and Pakistan’s economic interest should not be affected. Amin added that in the wake of the May 2 incident, a crisis-like situation had emerged in Pakistan-US relations; however, it now seems that the US has realised that Pakistan is a significant country in the region with reference to the war on terror in Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan wants to put an end to the war on terror so that foreign troops could leave the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2011.