Washington not a reliable friend: Defence Minister Asif

[boomslang]

Now America is beggar too , he is getting loan from China as well.

China BUYS U.S. bonds. Pakistan just sticks their hand out for free money. BIG difference.

 

[American Pakistani]

Sorry Mr Khawaja, unlike Pakistan or Pakistanis every country has to look for it's & it's citizens interests. No one force Pakistan or Pakistani leaders to stay fool forever.

Pakistan's problems will never solve unless there is no complete unity internally, extremism and terrorism will not stop unless there is a wall or some effective security measures at Pak-Afg border, sectarianism will become monster if you won't thrash groups like LeJ, etc.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

@haman10

 

[haman10]

@haman10

“Pakistan must pursue its own national security goals; we don’t want to antagonise our neighbours, countries of the region and greater powers,” he said.

vow !

such a futuristic and progressive view Mr.Asif has ! really nice !!

wish we had more of these people in the region

regional strife will get resolved , hegemonic extra-regional bullying powers get clamped and there will be lasting peace .

exactly what we need today . we need vision . we need observation .

we need open eyes

@kollang @SOHEIL

 

[Super Falcon]

Dear no need f 16 usa has a history of betrayal with friends cuba iran iraq vanazuela ets are biggest examples

 

[Storm Force]

I think you need to look at yourselves.

Are you the victim or the culprit.

Is your army or isi completely honest and a really ally of the usa and do you really have the same vested interests as the usa and the world in general.ie do you really want to get rid of Islamic terror and jehadi militants or are you merely paying lip service.

Do you want peace and prosperity and growth in the region or a continuous hostility to neighbours and the west in general.

 

[Asian.Century]

Great historic words by Defence Minister of Pakistan.

Its time to end the relationship with untrustable US ally.

 

[sathya]

With US atleast your economy had the scope of improving ,

With China, against their cheaper products no country can compete let alone Pakistan .
With all the loans and investments, you can t even make law to protect your indigenous industry.

Soon Pakistan will depend on china from nut to bolt..
You ll just become a market for china, will actually worsen in the long term economically.

 

[xyxmt]

Mr.Asif if US was not a friend then why was PA Chief Raheel in America recently?
If this man is making all these mendacious statements because he thinks Russia has become Pak's new BFF then I'm sure Russia must be sniggering at Pak right now, for it knows its game well.
Mr. Defence Minister should 've been careful with his words.Lolzz

Yar Levina dont loose your sleep on Mr. Asif's statements, we know how to milk each and every "Friend" and even the "foes"

 

[Levina]

Yar Levina dont loose your sleep on Mr. Asif's statements, we know how to milk each and every "Friend" and even the "foes"

Russia too cant help it you see, even the $70 per barrel oil prices 're also kept that way to hurt 'em where it hurts most. They dont 've too many options other giving in to Russian-Pakistani bonhomie.
But its a well known fact that Russian defence technologies have been trickling into Pakistan mostly through third countries since last so many years.Many years ago Russia had sold Pakistan over 40 MI-171 transport helicopters of a non-military version.
whats the big deal???
Russia-pakistan bonhomie might not last long is what I fear as soon as OPEC raises the price of oil from $70 per barrel. Lol

 

[SBD-3]

ISLAMABAD: The uneasy truth of Pakistan’s less-than-trusting relationship with the US was acknowledged by a key member of the federal cabinet on Tuesday when Defence Minister Khawaja Asif drew a large question mark on the reliability of Washington as a friend of Pakistan.

“The Americans have been our friends for a long time – since the 60s and the 70s – but their reliability is relative,” he told a packed audience at the Institute of Strategic Studies.

He did not stop there. “American foreign policy has been disastrous for this region,” he said, referring to South Asia and the Middle East, adding that, “for all times to come, the geography of this region has been changed”.

Also read: Militants not dangerous to Pakistan should not be targeted: Sartaj

Mr Asif warned that Pakistan had to be very careful. “We are still paying the price for our intervention in Afghanistan. The disintegration of this region on sectarian and ethnic lines is in process.”

He said that US ‘disappointment’ with Pakistan’s contribution to the ‘war on terror’ was unjustified. “We’ve had a historic relationship with the US since independence. It has had its highs and lows,” he said.

“Recently, the COAS had an extensive visit to the US. It was a good visit and we need to pursue this relationship and build the trust that is not there 100 per cent, at least,” he said, admitting that Islamabad did not necessarily see eye-to-eye with Washington in the context of the continuing war on terrorism.

He also called the recent US Defence Department statement about the objectives of the military operation in the tribal areas “very discomforting”.

Defence minister blames US foreign policy for problems in Middle East and South Asia

“This shows that despite our sacrifices, the Americans still do not trust us completely. That is sad, but it should be clear that Pakistan’s national objectives are paramount for us,” he said.

“The Islamic State (IS) was propped up to fight against the regime in Syria and now the world looks on in horror. We may feel the repercussions [of the US foreign policy failure] in the region for many years,” Mr Asif said.

He said that US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel -- who stepped down just after two years in office – was the latest casualty of the failure of US foreign policy in the region.

During his remarks, Mr Asif took pains to note that he was airing his own opinion and that what he was saying did not necessarily reflect government policy. But the way he framed his points, it seemed as if he was building a case for an alliance with another global power, one that was nothing like the untrusting US.

Regional powers

After the world became unipolar, he said, global instability had only increased. Advocating multi-polarity as ideal for a global balance of power, he said that Russia and China were the two largest powers in the region. “We should seek solutions to regional problems from our own shores, not from across the pond,” he said.

He called Russia “an emerging superpower”, one that was economically well-established despite sanctions against it. “Being in the same region, Pakistan must have a sound relationship with Russia,” he said.

He said that Pakistan had recently concluded a very important agreement with Russia; one which would allow it to purchase armaments from the Russian Federation. The arms that Pakistan was getting from Russia were going to be used primarily for anti-terrorism operations, Mr Asif said.

“Pakistan must pursue its own national security goals; we don’t want to antagonise our neighbours, countries of the region and greater powers,” he said.

The defence minister began his history lesson with Afghanistan, saying, “[Pakistan’s] intervention or interference in Afghanistan in the 80s was more of a proxy war and we were the proxy”. Pakistan as a nation, he said, still continued to pay the price for that.

He said, “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, right at the outset, pledged that there will be no interference in Afghan affairs from our side. In the last two to three weeks, we’ve seen COAS go to Afghanistan and the Afghan president visiting Pakistan. The PM told Ashraf Ghani that we must start anew, turn a new page. The Afghan president responded: ‘No, we have to start a new book’.”

“Without peace in Afghanistan, there can be no peace; peace will be very elusive in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the situation in Afghanistan was also a matter of national security for Pakistan. “We cannot live in isolation or forget what is happening next door,” he said.

India

Talking about India, he said, “[Pakistan’s] peace overtures have been misconstrued as weakness by our eastern neighbour, but I believe that our problems can be solved through peace and negotiations.”

“When PM Nawaz Sharif came to power, he pledged to work with India. It was alright in the beginning… but since the last few months, things have deteriorated on the border,” he said.

Referring to the sharp Indian reaction to a recent meeting between Pakistani diplomats and Kashmiri leaders in New Delhi, Mr Asif said, “The reaction has been rather overstated and the way India reacted to this meeting was a setback to peace efforts.” Following the meetings, India cancelled secretary-level talks with Pakistan, which the minister said was “harmful for both countries”.

“We still wish and strive for peace with India and will resume the process of building a lasting friendship between the two countries,” he said, adding that he hoped that the Saarc summit would yield “something less butter"

Washington not a reliable friend: Asif - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

Perhaps 745 million $$ CSF payment just received is a testimant enough that Washington continues to pay us for what we are supposed to do for ourselves.

 

[Menace2Society]

Asif has made some very interesting points. Foreign policy making in Pak was a disaster with Zulfi Bhutto.

Russia, China and Pak must form a security pact to claim Eurasia and guard it from ISIS crazies. This is the future and Pak must build towards this.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

At least he reiterates that he says this as his own personal opinion. Fact of the matter is that the 2 partners have more often than not found discrepancies in how to pursue certain objectives

from a defence perspective, we have our internal impediments....for example in 2008 due to bureacracy and corruption, critical bomb detection equipment was sitting in Karachi port collecting dust when it should have been distributed and used immediately. As far as Americans are concerned, we learned the hard way during Pressler Amendment and sanctions. However to blame that on Americans ignores the fact that they warned us about going nuclear. It was in our interests to go nuclear (given indian beliggerance) regardless of threats from DC. But at the end of the day, they still sanctioned us and it effected the services - specifically the air force. Army not to that degree.

At times just a relationship of convenience, though we do even to this day have a common interest to see a stable Afghanistan and an end to extremism and terrorism which has affected us and some of our neighbours.

Perhaps 745 million $$ CSF payment just received is a testimant enough that Washington continues to pay us for what we are supposed to do for ourselves.

keeping in mind we've also provided them for years - a free ground line (read LINES) of communication TO and FROM Afghanistan, via our highways....it is NOT their money. It is our money.

 

[SBD-3]

keeping in mind we've also provided them for years - a free ground line (read LINES) of communication TO and FROM Afghanistan, via our highways....it is NOT their money. It is our money.

An excuse...Like people here would always find to satisfy themselves....

 

[Rajput_Pakistani]

This was not the first attempt by "Defense" minister to back-stab Pakistan and its armed forces. The controversial statement was given at the time of Army Chief's state visit. It was purposeful and well thought of to undermine his visit.
Then people say why this and why that?
It also proves what Statesmanship Pakistani politicians lack and why tragedy of East Pakistan happened?