Anti-terrorism efforts: Islamabad rejects US assessment

Pakistan on Thursday rejected a White House assessment that disparaged its efforts to formulate a sound counter terrorism strategy saying Islamabad should not be held accountable for failings in Afghanistan since its contribution to the war on terror was considerably more than any other single country. "I would like to emphatically state that we do not share the US assessment," said Foreign Office spokesperson, Ms Tehmina Janjua, during a weekly press briefing.
"All references to Pakistan are unwarranted," she added. The White House on April 5 had submitted a bi-annual assessment on Afghanistan war to Congress, saying Pakistan is making little progress as there is "no clear path toward defeating the insurgency". In addition, the report raised concerns about political gridlock and economic problems plaguing the nation.
Pakistan military's spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, also rejected the White House report and accused it of misinterpreting the situation on the ground, particularly with respect to the Mohmand operation, which was cited in the report. "Pakistan has its own assessment of the strengths and weakness of the strategy and approach being followed by US/ISAF vis-à-vis counter terrorism and on issues of peace and security in Afghanistan," said the FO spokesperson.
She said that Pakistan had clear strategy in dealing with these and other issues and in doing so would solely be guided by Pakistan's national interest. There is undoubtedly recognition of the need for genuine and honest engagement between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US to overcome what are perceived to be common challenges and shared goals. Pakistan will be engaging with the US on these matters, she added.
When asked about the current status of Pakistan-US relations, she said "we are building our bilateral relations with the US on the principles of equality, respect, partnership, mutual interest and mutual trust. And Pakistan's national interest would always remain foremost."
The strained ties between the allies in war against terror were recently reflected in the tri-lateral (Pakistan, US and Afghanistan) engagements. Pakistan was excluded from a scheduled meeting in the aftermath of Raymond Davis issue. After the Davis issue, a deadly drone attack by the US prompted Pakistan to refuse to attend another scheduled tri-lateral ministerial meeting.
The Foreign Office spokesperson said that conversations were going on between Pakistan and the United States with regard to discussions in the context of the bilateral and the trilateral engagements. "Details have not been worked out," she added. Earlier, while commenting on the recent visit of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, she said that we welcome the strong affirmation by Prime Minister Cameron of building "strong long-term relations" and "unbreakable partnership" with Pakistan.
"The launching of the Enhanced Strategic Dialogue constitutes an important milestone and opens up new and bright prospects of taking the bilateral relationship forward in a comprehensive manner," she added. To a question she said that the process of Pakistan-India engagement under a resumed dialogue process is moving ahead. And the Commerce Secretaries of the two countries will meet in Islamabad on 27 - 28 April. "We are confident that these talks will be imbued by a spirit of enlightened national interest on both sides." I must underscore that Pakistan attaches considerable importance to the dialogue process, she added.