Borrowing from President Donald Trump’s vocabulary, Ambassador Shaikh described Pakistan-US relationship as having “never been so good looking” in recent memory, while acknowledging that it still requires more substance - Photo Instagram
Pak-US Ties ‘Never Looked so Good’ but Need More Substance
By Anwar Iqbal
Washington: Relations between Pakistan and the United States have strengthened under the Trump administration but still hold potential for deeper engagement, according to Rizwan Shaikh, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US.
Borrowing from President Donald Trump’s vocabulary, he described the relationship as having “never been so good looking” in recent memory, while acknowledging that it still requires more substance.
The envoy was speaking at a symposium, organized by Pakistani students at Georgetown University, which covered a wide range of topics and featured several speakers from diverse backgrounds.
Most speakers attended the discussions in person, while some participated via video link.
Ambassador Robin Raphel, a former head of the State Department’s Bureau of South Asian Affairs, said President Trump had removed the “emotionalism” that previously hindered US efforts to rebuild ties with Pakistan.
“Now is the time to strengthen the relationship with a country that remains strategically important,” she added, pointing to Pakistan’s proximity to some of the world’s most sensitive regions.
Ambassador Shaikh also highlighted Pakistan’s potential as “a large country with the fifth-largest population and many things to offer”, adding that the Trump administration viewed Pakistan as a country with its own identity, rather than solely in reference to Afghanistan or India.
Former US ambassador Maleeha Lodhi outlined five key areas likely to dominate Pakistan’s foreign policy in the years ahead.
These areas include managing relations with China and the United States amid the US-China confrontation, addressing challenges in Afghanistan, maintaining an adversarial stance towards India, and balancing ties between strategic ally Saudi Arabia and neighbor Iran.
She described the situation in Kabul as a major security and foreign policy challenge, calling it “a severe policy dilemma” for Islamabad.
“There are obvious limits to a coercive approach and military response, as a total breakdown in relations with Afghanistan is not in Pakistan’s interest — especially given the already fraught ties with India,” she said.
Former senator Mushahid Hussain reflected on Pakistan’s evolving relationship with the US, urging Islamabad to leverage the current focus on economic and strategic engagement to rebuild its economy.
He emphasized Pakistan’s role as a regional security provider in the Middle East, asserting that only a strong and stable Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, can bring lasting peace to the region. His remarks were met with warm applause from the audience.
Prof Akbar S. Ahmed highlighted the challenges in the country’s tribal areas, praising the wisdom of local communities and warning about Balochistan, which makes up over 40 per cent of Pakistan’s total area. He urged that the mistakes of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) should not be repeated.
He said no state can be sustained without justice, fairness and generosity. “We must consider the factors that truly support democracy,” he added, stressing that a functioning democracy is impossible without education.
Other speakers highlighted the critical role of Pakistan’s young population, with a median age of just 23, in shaping social and political movements.
Dr Mehlaqa Samdani, who leads a group lobbying for Mr Khan’s release from prison, sought permission to address Ambassador Shaikh, but the session ended before she could speak. – Dawn
A Views News Now report “Time to turn ‘good-looking’ US-Pakistan ties into lasting partnership” by Ali Imran adds:
The conclave at Georgetown University, organized by journalist and CEO of Pak Futures Foundation Wajahat Khan, and co-founder student Shahaan Shafi, brought together experts, diplomats and political leaders for discussion on wide-ranging topics
As the United States and Pakistan rebuild their relations after decades of ups and downs in bilateral cooperation, diplomats say it is time the two countries move away from the past transactional security-driven relationship to a long-term partnership.
“(President Donald) Trump put aside the baggage of relations. It is not in the US interest to ignore Pakistan,” Ambassador Robin Raphel, a former US Assistant Secretary of State, said about improvement in the ties, speaking at Georgetown Pakistan Public Policy Conclave.
Raphel was on the panel with Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, and former Pakistani ambassador to the United Kingdom Professor Akbar Ahmed as experts saw an opportunity to anchor bilateral ties on its own merit, instead of geopolitical expediencies as done int he past.
The conclave at Georgetown University, organized by journalist and CEO of Pak Futures Foundation Wajahat Khan, and co-founder student Shahaan Shafi, brought together experts, diplomats and political leaders for discussion on wide-ranging topics.
The discussion timed with an upswing in the US-Pakistan relations, which have seen a revival with the Trump Administration encouraging a major US company to invest $500 million for development of the country’s vast rare earth minerals, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars.
At the same time, Washington has hailed Pakistan a “phenomenal” counterterror ally and says it values the South Asian nuclear power’s role towards achieving stability in the Middle East, wracked by Gaza war and deep-running rivalries between the regional players.
The former US diplomat highlighted several factors that underscore the imperatives of a sustained US-Pakistan relationship.
“Pakistan has a large population, its youth, minerals, and it is strategically located,” she noted while arguing that all this makes it necessary for US-Pakistan relations to be long-term.
Questioned if the relationship will last longer into the future, Ambassador Raphel noted two factors will be critical to the future direction of the relationship – Pakistan fulfilling its pledges and the US staying consistent – and also emphasized the young generation will steer the ties to a sustained partnership.
Professor Akbar Ahmed addresses the gathering
“Regardless of who is in charge, the youth will take it forward and make it a steady partnership,” she added.
Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, who has had a long diplomatic experience as Pakistan’s deputy ambassador in Washington, said since his appointment a year ago, during his interactions he has spotlighted Pakistan’s vital importance to the United States and the world as a country of more than 220 million people in a key region of the world.
“(We) advocated that Pakistan be looked on its own merit. It should not be seen from an Afghan, Indian, Chinese or Iranian lens but Pakistan,” he said in reference to the history of close security-centered US-Pakistan relationship during the two Afghan wars and Cold War era.
“The relationship has never been so good looking,” he said during the discussion moderated by Amna Khilji, COO of Pak Futures Foundation.
On the role of Pakistani Americans, Ambassador Sheikh said the diaspora will benefit enormously from a strong US-Pakistan relationship and asked the Pakistanis to rally around their identity as it is how they will be known long into the future like other American communities.
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, who is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, also expressed his views in the panel discussion as keynote speaker.
He underlined Pakistan’s significance to peace and security in the region, reminding the students that Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of the nation, said he wanted to make Pakistan one of the greatest nations in the world
“At the birth of Pakistan, Mr Jinnah, as the governor general of the nation, had to make a choice between the two blocs that dominated the world during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union and he chose the former,” he later explained to Views News Now.
“Because of America’s belief in faith and commitment to democracy and promotion of education and human rights. These values, Mr Jinnah said were compatible with those of Islam and Pakistan the United States was thus a natural ally of Pakistan.”
