Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday reiterated that US President Donald Trump’s newly announced Afghanistan policy will be met with failure.
In an interview with a foreign news agency, Abbasi said Pakistan’s position has been very clear that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and the neighbouring state can have peace only through a political solution.
“From day one we have been saying very clearly the military strategy in Afghanistan has not worked and it will not work,” he said. There has to be a political settlement. That’s the bottom-line, he added.
Abbasi stated that Trump’s policy will also result in a failure, adding that the government of Pakistan supports the war against terrorism but it won’t allow the war to come into the country.
He said that to ensure peace in the region, Pakistan is ready to have a dialogue with every country, including India.
Trump announced his strategy for the region last Tuesday, harshly criticising Pakistan for providing a safe haven to “agents of chaos”.
Trump cleared the way for the deployment of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, backtracking from his promise to rapidly end America’s longest war, while pillorying ally Pakistan.
“We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,” he said, warning that vital aid could be cut. “That will have to change and that will change immediately.”
