Bangladesh to relocate 80,000 more Rohingya refugees to island after UN agreement

ISLAMABAD: A number of former international secretaries of Pakistan have described this week’s go to of US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to Islamabad as a “constructive improvement,” however unbiased specialists stated they had been skeptical about the way forward for Pakistan-US ties.

Media and specialists say conferences between Pakistani officers and Sherman in Islamabad had been “strained” amid a worsening relationship between the 2 international locations, as every searches for a method ahead in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Sherman’s go to comes as Republican senators press for laws again dwelling sanctioning Pakistan for offering security for the Taliban, one thing Islamabad denies.

The transfer has raised hackles amongst Pakistan’s leaders, who’ve slammed Washington for what they are saying is the unjust blaming of Pakistan for America’s losses in Afghanistan — particularly after looking for and receiving Islamabad’s assist in the protracted peace talks with the Taliban.

Sherman additionally got here to Pakistan straight from a go to to its arch-foe India, the place she advised a gathering the US didn’t see itself constructing a “broad relationship” with Islamabad. However former Pakistani diplomats cautioned towards studying an excessive amount of into the “negativity,” saying the go to was a “constructive improvement” on stability.

“It’s a good and constructive improvement {that a} excessive rating official from the US authorities has visited Pakistan, as Islamabad has all the time maintained that each international locations want to remain engaged and proceed to work collectively,” Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary, the previous international secretary who additionally served as Pakistan’s envoy to the US, advised Arab Information on Friday.

“I don’t suppose we must always learn a lot into it (Sherman’s assertion in India),” Chaudhry added. “For us what issues is her go to to Islamabad. Pakistan is engaged with the US and engaged for the proper cause. It is necessary that each international locations maintain working to carry lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.”

One other former international secretary, Tehmina Janjua, agreed.

“Regardless of current statements by US officers, Pakistan ought to stay centered on having good and constructive relations with Washington,” she stated, including that Pakistan’s fundamental aim must be to ascertain a relationship primarily based on “strategic conversations” on numerous points.

“We have to have strategic dialogue,” she stated, “and a relationship unbiased of Afghanistan.”

After Sherman’s assembly with Pakistani International Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, his workplace stated he had advised the visiting dignitary that Islamabad sought a “broad-based, long-term and lasting relationship” with the US primarily based on financial cooperation and the mutual promotion of peace within the area.

In a separate assertion launched after a gathering with Sherman, the Pakistani military chief additionally known as for a “multi-domain” relationship.

However unbiased analysts had been skeptical this was doable within the close to future.

Ayesha Siddiqa, creator and geo-political scholar, advised Arab Information that Pakistan was now “essentially marginal in American strategic plans,” which had shifted in favor of India.

Political analyst and columnist Musharraf Zaidi stated Pakistan ought to now “anticipate the worst” from the US.

“With the method of a complete embrace of India, the US has determined that it isn’t actually serious about higher relations with Pakistan,” Zaidi stated, calling Pakistan an “splendid scapegoat” for Washington for its failures in Afghanistan.

“Washington is giving a chilly shoulder to Islamabad as a result of it seeks to deflect duty for the fiasco in Afghanistan, away from the selections it made itself, and in the direction of a celebration (Pakistan) that serves as a reputable escape for its failure in Afghanistan.”