Delay in US-withdrawal threatens to end US-Taliban peace deal: Maliha Lodhi
Delay in US-withdrawal threatens to end US-Taliban peace deal: Maliha Lodhi
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Former Pakistani envoy to the United Nations Dr. Maleeha Lodhi has expressed concern that any delay in the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan could threaten the peace agreement with the Taliban.
Dr. Lodhi expressed these concerns in Dunya News program "Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath" on Tuesday. She said that if the Doha agreement gets terminated, the peace process in Afghanistan would be jeopardized. Pakistan should inform the Biden administration of this danger as it would pose a huge challenge for Pakistan, she added.
Talking about Pak-US relations in the interview, she said that the US was reviewing its Afghan policy, so the withdrawal could be delayed. Afghanistan is a big issue, we have to see how we can cooperate going forward.
Regarding the case of Shakeel Afridi, she said that Pakistan would abide by its own laws. There can be no negotiation for a person spying for America and neither is it necessary that we do whatever America wants, she added.
Asked about Daniel Pearl’s case and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s telephone call with US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, she said relations with the Biden administration began on a negative note but we remain unaffected.
Dr. Lodhi said the message given to the United States was that Pakistan would pursue every legal route against the acquittal but it is bound to abide by the court’s decision. She added that whenever both countries’ interests overlapped, Pakistan extended cooperation to the US.
She said it was not necessary that Pak-US relations would derail just because the Secretary of State said so, as he himself acknowledged that Pakistan has been instrumental in stabilizing the region.
The former envoy said Pakistan’s strategic choice is China while the United States has sided with India. Therefore, US-China tensions could spill over and affect Pak-US relations as well.
“National interest is permanent, the rest is temporary”, she said.
