Senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center Washington DC Amb. Dennis Kux during a roundtable discussion on "US Policy towards South Asia" said that USA must cement decade's long ties with Pakistan. Center for International Strategic Studies (CISS) organised the discussion at National Library, here on Thursday.
Kux admitted that the relations between the US and India have increased tremendously as compared to Pakistan. But the fact is that it was India, which grows and reaches such a level. However, the US has decades long old relations with Pakistan, which should be maintained. About 3 million Indians are living in the US as compared to a million Pakistanis and both are contributing to development of US economy. About Pakistan-US relation, Kux said there are multiple problems like Taliban militant, Haqqani network, nuclear and others.
Due to A Q Khan network, the US is unable to make any nuclear deal with Pakistan while in case of India he said the US has some business relations. India is a responsible state and fully controlled its proliferation and its export to any other country. Recently, he said India and Afghanistan have developed strategic relations. "We have common interest in Afghanistan, and this is particularly related to the restoration of peace". He said the US had several agreements with Pakistan but have no such arrangements with India. The US government has to try its level best to protect Pakistan's interest after withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan.
The ambassador expressed the hope that the US government had established economic business with Pakistan as step to further cementing ties with old ally. "The US never wants to waste it's billions of US dollars already invested in Afghanistan and will not lift the region alone rather keep its assistance in the region," he claimed.
Answering a question, he said why the US will try to destabilise Pakistan rather America wants to help Pakistan in every field. He admitted that the US forces could move freely in Afghanistan without Pakistan's support and Pakistan also needs US supports. If the US left the region alone, then Taliban, Haqqani network and others again came in to power and destabilise Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is not in the interest of Pakistan.
To another question, he said the US forces in Afghanistan only due to 9/11 incident. Stability in Afghanistan is in the interest of Afghanistan, Pakistan and other regional countries. He suggested that the regional countries should work hard for the restoration of peace in Afghanistan.