Pakistan needs to help the US solve problem in Afghanistan for a better bilateral relationship, a senior administration official has said, asserting that Washington expects Islamabad to play a constructive role in helping implement America's historic peace deal with the Taliban.
The US and the Taliban signed the landmark peace in Doha on Saturday to bring lasting peace in the war-torn Afghanistan and allow US troops to return home from America's longest war.
"I believe it was President Trump's decision to cut off military assistance to Pakistan and to say that if they wanted a better relationship with the United States, they needed to work with us on helping solve the problem in Afghanistan," a senior administration official said.
Pakistan has been an important partner in this effort, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He did not elaborate on the role being played by Pakistan in the peace deal with the Taliban.
"Most recently they have been helpful in supporting our effort to press for the reduction of violence that we've achieved this past week. But nothing is easy between those two countries. There's a long and difficult history. No one thinks it's perfect, and we're going to need continued support and effort by Pakistan to help move forward on implementation of the agreement," said the senior administration official.
Pakistan has been an important partner to the US in this effort, given its history in this conflict, which is well known to everybody, the official said.
"They're an important player. So, it's been useful to us to have a productive working relationship with the Government of Pakistan on this issue," the official said.
When Special US envoy on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad started this process, Pakistanis were cooperative in releasing Mullah Baradar, who has been the leader of the negotiating team on behalf of the Taliban, the official said.
"He was Mullah Omar's named successor. He's played an important role in this process," the official asserted.
The United States commits to facilitate discussions between Afghanistan and Pakistan to work out arrangements to ensure neither country's security is threatened by actions from the territory of the other side, the official said, adding that this is as per joint declaration between Afghanistan and the United States of America for bringing peace to Afghanistan.
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