News Desk |
Ambassador Munir Akram Ex. Permanent Representative of Pakistan in UN in a program “Live with Dr. Moeed Pirzada” talked about US invitation to Pakistan for the trilateral summit, which is due in Doha in December 2018.
While answering the question related to the ‘expectations of US from Pakistan’ and the ‘letter of Trump’ to Imran Khan, Ambassador Akram considered it a positive development as such a formal and direct message shows US’s acknowledgment of the sacrifices of Pakistan and its role as a regional power.
55% of Afghan territory is still controlled by the Taliban and their logistics cannot be denied. The US is not in a position to dictate the Taliban.
Such an approach has been used after many years. The ambassador further replied that the ‘strong rebuttal of Prime Minister Imran Khan’ is responsible for the current response of Trump.
General Ijaz Awan who was online from Lahore told Dr. Pirzada that, the US wants to come out of Afghanistan through having a dialogue with the warring factions and taking regional powers on-board. Through these, ‘face-saving devices’ US will exit from Afghanistan. He further clarified the term ‘face-saving devices’ as the finishing of Al-Qaida and strengthening of Afghan forces and starting a dialogue process.
He answered another question related to ‘softening the positions of Taliban’ that It would not be possible because the Taliban want the US completely out of Afghanistan. 55% of Afghan territory is still controlled by the Taliban and their logistics cannot be denied. The US is not in a position to dictate the Taliban.
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Mr. Akram told– while replying a question related to “exit of US from Afghanistan” through ‘face-saving devices’– that the US wants political solutions but is not convinced of the full exit of US from Afghanistan. In addition, responding about the possible talks of US with Taliban, Mr. Akram said, “Taliban is a stalemate against the US and Taliban will only ask about US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.” He said that they can encourage the process of dialogue between the Taliban and US.