ISLAMABAD – The US Ambassador David Hale, in a meeting with National Security Adviser Nasser Janjua, said the US President Donald Trump did not blame Pakistan for failure in Afghanistan.
As Hale and Janjua met today in Islamabad to discuss the Trump administration’s new strategy on Afghanistan and South Asia, the US envoy claimed the perceived misconceptions it arose due to the press taking the policy apart piece by piece instead of interpreting it as a whole.
According to a press release issued by NSA Janjua’s spokesperson, Hale said it was wrong to assume that the policy recommended a purely military solution, or that engagement with Pakistan had been ruled out. Military strategy, he said, was just one piece of the policy which espoused a political solution.
NSA Janjua told the US envoy that Pakistan was taking its time to examine the US policy and considering its options. He added that Islamabad would like to receive further details from the US.
“This notwithstanding, President Trump’s address at Fort Myers was disappointing and had deeply hurt the feelings of the government and the people of Pakistan,” the NSA said, according to the handout.
He told Hale that Pakistan had been “wrongly blamed, threatened and negatively projected to the world, which was unacceptable”.
“Our nuclear weapons were wrongly linked to terrorism, which was totally uncalled for. The new policy has created uncertainties and further added to the regional fragility and imbalance,” he added, saying this was why the policy drew such a sharp response in Pakistan.
