Former Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit & Pak's US Envoy Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry rued that India has been given a role by the US in Afghanistan
Washington: Acknowledging that Pakistan's relationship with the US is "under stress", the country's envoy here has urged Washington not to look at Islamabad with a "very narrow approach" through one lens or the other.
The US has recently suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens.
The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan comes after US President Donald Trump, in a New Year's Day tweet, accused the country of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years.
"Currently, it (US-Pakistan relationship) is under stress. I must admit," Pakistan's ambassador to the US Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told a Washington audience this week.
Chaudhry said he believes that this is because in the US, sometimes, Pakistan is looked at from one lens or the other.
"Sometimes we are viewed through the lens of Afghanistan, and since United States is not making progress in Afghanistan, that could actually be up against failure. Perhaps it is through -- because of Pakistan and therefore tendency to view Pakistan in that narrow lens," he said.
Their view is that Pakistan needs to take action against certain anti-India terrorists that they think live in Pakistan and as if Pakistan is supporting terrorism, the envoy said.
So any way the agenda or the objectives of the terrorists are being served by the suspension (of talks), Chaudhry said.