WASHINGTON, March 23: The US relationship with Pakistan is not tied to a particular period and will continue to grow consistently for years to come, says a senior State Department official.
The official, who was briefing South and Central Asian journalists on developments in their regions, explained long-term US interests in Pakistan when a journalist suggested that there was a disconnect between the administration and the rest of the American society on Washington’s ties to Islamabad.
The official had earlier stressed the Bush administration’s desire to maintain its close ties with Pakistan, which prompted the journalist to say that what he heard from other sources was much different from what the administration says.
“When we go to Capitol Hill, we hear comments about General Musharraf and Pakistan that go well beyond your circumspect remarks today. It’s the same when you go to think-tank meetings on Pakistan or if you read the op-ed pages of America’s Fourth Estate. Is there a disconnect between the administration’s view on General Musharraf and Pakistan and what the rest of America and the American people think about Pakistan,” he asked.
The official asked him to look at how various US administrations had dealt with Pakistan over the years.
“You have to look at what the administrations have done, different parties over the years, what the Congress has done, different parties, different members over the years, and what the American people have supported with their tax dollars, with their votes and others,” he said.
The official said if US-Pakistan relations were reviewed in a broader context, the viewer will see a desire to have a solid relationship with that country.
The US, he said, wanted to work with Pakistan as an ally in the war on terror, and as “a place where democracies are important to us.”
The official said the United States also wanted to work with Pakistan as an economic and trading partner, with investments and with imports from Pakistan.
The US, he said, was also helping Pakistan improve its educational system. “There are all kinds of programmes back and forth … so I think over the years, we’ve had a very consistent interest in Pakistan.”
“Our interest is in the success of Pakistan as a nation, the success of Pakistan as a moderate Muslim, open, prosperous, democratic society, and that’s what we have tried to sustain over the years and I think that’s what we’re doing now.”
The official stressed that the US Congress had always supported the administration’s efforts to maintain its ties with Pakistan with the funding needed to implement these programmes.
The official said that since the American society was a democratic society, “you’ll hear everything under the sun said about anything under the sun.”
But in the end such debates have “produced a very consistent and sustained US policy to work with Pakistan as an important nation, as a promising nation, as a good partner in any variety of areas, and that we’ve done that consistently over the years and will do it consistently for years to come.”
