WASHINGTON, Nov 6: United States officials believe that the September 11 events have provided an opportunity to accelerate and reinforce relations with Pakistan and improve cooperation on the full range of bilateral and regional issues.
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca feels that the US has an enduring commitment to its ties with Pakistan, and America and others in the international community will be working closely with Pakistan to help its economy and improve the lives of its people.
Briefing South Asian journalists on Tuesday in advance of President George Bush’s meetings with Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee later this week, Ms Rocca described India and Pakistan as “prime targets” of terrorism, and said talks with the two leaders will be concerned with the issue of terrorism and how to improve coordination against it. At the same time, she said, “we have not lost of other vital components of our relationship with India and Pakistan, and these will be prominent in the president’s discussions”.
A senior administration official, asked separately how enduring the current US interest in Pakistan would be, said Washington had been working on a long-term relationship with Pakistan before Sept 11 and there were very good discussions between the two sides. The events of Sept 11 had provided an opportunity to accelerate ties with Pakistan as well as India. The lifting of sanctions had cleared the way to move ahead quickly in reinforcimg ties with South Asia.
Replying to a question as to whether the US was pushing for a meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan to resurrect the Agra process, Ms Rocca said only that Washington supported a sustained dialogue between the two as a good step towards resolution of bilateral differences.
But this was something that had to be solved by the two countries themselves. The US had been urging maxium restraint on both Islamabad and New Delhi. As far as she knew, there were no plans for a Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting in New York, Ms Rocca said.
She denied any suggestion that there was any scepticism about Pakistan’s commitment to the campaign against terrorism. She said what Gen Musharraf did in terms of making an 180-degree turn in withdrawing support from the Taliban was appreciated.
‘NONSENSE’: Ms Rocca characterized as “nonsense” and without any basis reports that the US had plans to take charge of Pakistan’s nuclear installations in case of a coup against Gen Musharraf. She said Gen Musharraf was in control of the army and the army was in control of the country’s nuclear installations. She said “no” when asked if Islamabad had asked for America’s technical assistance to protect nuclear facilities.
Ms Rocca confirmed that the State Department had received a letter from the Justice Department asking for the Lashkar-i-Taiba and the Jaish-i-Mohammad to be placed on the list of designated terrorist organizations. But the two were not yet on the list.
The Bush administration has appointed a veteran diplomat, James Dobbins, as its envoy to the Afghan opposition as part of the efforts to build a new government in Afghanistan, and Ms Rocca said Mr Dobbins would soon be meeting a number of people in diffrent opposition factions. She said the US anticipated an important United Nations role in a post-Taliban set-up and was working closely with the UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. She denied that the effort to form an alternative to the Taliban was faltering, pointing out that no one had anticipated that it would be an easy job and everyone was aware of the pitfalls involved.
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