‘We want stability in Afghanistan’

Hours after President Donald Trump announced his administration’s Afghan strategy on Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif met U.S. Ambassador in Islamabad and reiterated the country’s desire for “peace and stability” in Afghanistan .

In a guarded response to President Trump’s harsh criticism, the Minister highlighted the country’s immense sacrifices in the enduring fight against terrorism and also expressed its continued desire to “work with the international community to eliminate the menace of terrorism”, a statement he issued after the meeting stated.

U.S. Ambassador David Hale conveyed the Foreign Minister that the U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, would meet him in the next few days to discuss bilateral relationship as well as the new U.S. policy.

There was no official reaction by the Pakistani military or the Foreign Office so far, but Opposition leaders were quick to react to Mr. Trump’s speech in which he slammed Pakistan’s anti-terror policy. Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf said Pakistan must reject being made scapegoats for the policy failures of the U.S. and India.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Khan said this should teach Pakistan once and for all a valuable lesson: never to fight others’ wars for the lure of dollars. “We fought 2 wars in Afghanistan at the US behest paying heavy human and economic costs both times. We sacrificed 70000 Pak lives in US WOT,” he said, referring to the war on terror. “Our economy suffered over $100 billion in losses. In addition, there were intangible costs on our society. Time for Pak to say: Never again.”