Trump aide says US seek ‘new ties’ with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – Reuters

A senior aide to U.S. President Donald Trump said during a visit to Pakistan that Washington wants a “new relationship” with Islamabad, the U.S. embassy said yesterday, amid worsening ties between the two nations.

Lisa Curtis, deputy assistant to the U.S. president, also voiced U.S. concerns about Pakistan’s “deficiencies” in preventing terrorist-financing during her two-day trip to the nuclear-armed South Asian nation.

Relations between the allies plummeted again last week when Washington persuaded member states of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan back on the watchlist of nations with inadequate terrorist financing or money laundering controls.

The U.S. move infuriated Islamabad amid fears it could hurt the fragile economy of Pakistan, whose de facto finance minister accused Washington of trying to “embarrass” his country.

“Ms. Curtis said that the United States seeks to move toward a new relationship with Pakistan, based on a shared commitment to defeat all terrorist groups that threaten regional stability,” the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

This new relationship would also be based on a “shared vision of a peaceful future for Afghanistan”, the embassy added. Tensions with historic ally Washington have pushed Pakistan further into the arms of China, officials and analysts say.