Reaffirming Pakistan's commitment to fight terrorism, a senior Pakistani official says that success in the global war against the scourge will require Islamabad's continued co-operation.
"Pakistan is in the frontline of the war on terrorism," Mansoor Suhail, press minister at the Pakistan Mission to the UN said in a letter to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper published on Monday.
"Many al Qaeda terrorists have been killed or captured by Pakistan," he said while responding to a recent article to the Journal written by Mahnaz Ispahani, a senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relation.
Suhail said while Ms Ispahani's article was based on "wrong assumptions and analysis", she "paradoxically, draws the right conclusion: The US must remain engaged with Pakistan".
"President Pervez Musharraf's government's co-operation with the US is based on the convergence of Pakistan-US interests both tactical and strategic," the Pakistan official said.
As regards Afghanistan, Suhail said "President Musharraf and President Bush have agreed, success against terrorism and extremism requires a comprehensive strategy," he said, adding: "Pakistan is pursuing a strategy whose aim is to create a modern, democratic Islamic state.
"This will have a pervasive and positive impact on the entire Islamic world and help improve Washington's strained relations with Muslims".
The US, he said, also needed nuclear Pakistan's co-operation to prevent proliferation and ensure peace in South Asia, which was essential to realise US commercial and strategic goals in the region.
"Pakistan's economic potential should not be discounted," Suhail said. "Pakistan is the second fastest growing economy in Asia; its trade and investment regime is among the most liberal; per-capita foreign investment is much higher than India's. And Pakistan can become the economic hub of three emerging dynamic regions - South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia."
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