Pak-US ties thawing: Gilani
Prime Minister says Afghanistan has right to enter into agreement with India, all must work for peace in the region.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan said on Wednesday that relations with estranged ally Washington were getting back on track and called for joint regional peace efforts after Afghanistan and India signed a strategic pact.
The tense partnership between Pakistan and the United States in the "war on terror" took a battering last month, with Washington demanding that Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network and cut alleged ties to the group.
Pakistan's relations with neighbouring Afghanistan have also soured over what Kabul says is Islamabad's links to militants.
But Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was upbeat.
"Relations between Pakistan and United States often experience ups and downs but these relations are now coming back towards right direction," he told reporters in the capital Islamabad.
Asked about Pakistan's feelings on the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance, Gilani said: "Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to.
"We all are in the same region and we want to work together for peace and prosperity in the region and I think we should work together."
Karzai, who is currently on a visit to India, has tried to reassure "brother" Pakistan about the alliance with its historic foe.
Indian involvement in Afghanistan is extremely sensitive because of the delicate and often deadly power games in South Asia, with Pakistan vehemently opposed to its arch enemy meddling in what it considers its backyard.
Pakistan has seen ties with regional and international allies go through a roller coaster ride with Karzai blaming the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI for being the hidden hand behind the assassination of former Afghan president and peace council chairman Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani. This followed after intense pressure from the US over what they said was another ISI supported attack by the elusive Haqqani network on the US embassy in Kabul.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and India saw a week of warm ties with a breakthrough in business-to-business ties after a delegation of businessmen concluded a successful tour of India.
Pakistan said on Wednesday that relations with estranged ally Washington were getting back on track and called for joint regional peace efforts after Afghanistan and India signed a strategic pact.
The tense partnership between Pakistan and the United States in the "war on terror" took a battering last month, with Washington demanding that Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network and cut alleged ties to the group.
Pakistan's relations with neighbouring Afghanistan have also soured over what Kabul says is Islamabad's links to militants.
But Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was upbeat.
"Relations between Pakistan and United States often experience ups and downs but these relations are now coming back towards right direction," he told reporters in the capital Islamabad.
Asked about Pakistan's feelings on the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance, Gilani said: "Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to.
"We all are in the same region and we want to work together for peace and prosperity in the region and I think we should work together."
Karzai, who is currently on a visit to India, has tried to reassure "brother" Pakistan about the alliance with its historic foe.
Indian involvement in Afghanistan is extremely sensitive because of the delicate and often deadly power games in South Asia, with Pakistan vehemently opposed to its arch enemy meddling in what it considers its backyard.
Pakistan has seen ties with regional and international allies go through a roller coaster ride with Karzai blaming the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI for being the hidden hand behind the assassination of former Afghan president and peace council chairman Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani. This followed after intense pressure from the US over what they said was another ISI supported attack by the elusive Haqqani network on the US embassy in Kabul.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and India saw a week of warm ties with a breakthrough in business-to-business ties after a delegation of businessmen concluded a successful tour of India.