Pakistan reviewing its ties with US: Defense minister

“We are here to give our point of view logically and with evidence. We will explain our position. But it’s not for us to satisfy them,” Dastgir Khan told reporters at the defense ministry.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, after accompanying Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to the UN General Assembly session in New York next week, is expected to visit Washington for the awaited meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Asif’s meeting with Tillerson was originally scheduled for mid-August, but was postponed on Pakistan’s request after US President Donald Trump’s policy statement on Afghanistan and South Asia. The statement was seen here as demeaning to Pakistan, dismissive of its sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and indifferent to Pakistan’s security concerns.

Dastgir Khan said the two countries needed a frank and candid dialogue on the issues concerning them, as differences between them would reflect in Afghanistan and other regional issues.

He said Pakistan would keep raising concerns about India in future engagements with the US.

Pakistan, he said, would advise the US that intensifying kinetic operations (military or offensive combat missions) in Afghanistan would not work and the only way forward lay in a politically negotiated settlement of the conflict.

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