America’s troubled ties with Pakistan is back on track, a senior Obama Administration official has said, while cautioning that the Pakistanis can be expected “to act when it is in their interest”.
“We are now on a track where the communication has started to occur again and we’re making progress. But we have to be realistic in our assumptions and expectations.
“We can expect the Pakistanis to act when it is in their interest,” Assistant Secretary of State Andrew J Shapiro said, without elaborating further.
Responding to questions from audience at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank based here, Shapiro admitted the relationship with Pakistan went through some challenges over the last couple of years.
“We had the Osama bin Laden raid. We had the border incident where Pakistani soldiers were killed. And so we went through a period, a difficult period, where there was not a lot of assistance flowing and our communication was not great,” he said, adding that the relationship now appears to be back on track.
Shapiro said there were a number of incidents and attacks by extremists in Pakistan recently that directly impact the interests of both the countries.
“So it makes sense for us to work with them, where we have these mutual interests, to provide them with assistance that will go after the bad guys. So we will continue to have these conversations with them about the best way to use this assistance,” he said.
Referring to the improvement in US-Pak ties and the American interest in the region, Shapiro strongly advocated in favour of continuation of military assistance to Islamabad.
“We have seen some really promising signs in our dialogue with Pakistan that we think make it worthwhile to continue our security assistance to Pakistan,” the State Department official said.