US must build long-term ties with Pakistan: Ryan C. Crocker

[Naveed Yaseen]

WASHINGTON: The United States needs to foster a stable and long-term relationship with Pakistan and economic partnership with the key regional country offers the way forward, senior US diplomat Ryan Crocker said at a Congressional hearing.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the US envoy to Iraq spoke of the need for the US to overcome questions about its long-term engagement with the its anti-terrorism ally, which Washington abandoned after the Soviet pullout from neighbouring Afghanistan in 1989.

“Our relationship with Pakistan is vital for our own national security and for stability in Afghanistan. We understood this clearly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979,” he told the hearing on “Countering the Threat of Failure in Afghanistan”.

Staging: “Our efforts against the Soviet occupation were largely staged from Pakistan,” Crocker added.

“But once the Soviets were out, so were we and Pakistan went almost overnight from our most allied of allies to a sanctioned pariah,” observed Crocker, who served as US ambassador to Pakistan between 2004 and 2007.

“Pakistanis welcome our re-engagement. They also wonder how long we will be around this time. We need stable relationship in which both nations and peoples can have confidence. Such a relationship can only be built up over time, overcoming past suspicions and mistrust on both sides,” Crocker added.

Crocker applauded the initiative of senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar that would authorise $1.5 billion annually in socio-economic assistance for Pakistan over five years. “This is precisely the type of long-term undertaking we both so badly need.” app

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