U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday once against praised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir as “great people,” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington sees an opportunity to expand strategic ties with Pakistan.
Addressing the signing ceremony of a Thailand-Cambodia peace deal on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Trump referred to recent cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, expressing confidence of his ability to broker peace.
“There is only one [conflict] left, although I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up,” he said. “But I’ll get that solved very quickly. I know them both. And the Field Marshal, and the Prime Minister are great people, and I have no doubt we’re going to get that done quickly,” he added.
“If I can take time and save millions of lives, that’s really a great thing,” he said. “I can’t think of any president who ever solved one war. They start wars. They don’t solve them,” he said, adding he had stopped several over the past year.
Separately, Rubio told a press briefing in Washington that the U.S. sees “an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan.” To a question on whether India had expressed concerns over Washington’s growing strategic engagement and stronger relations with Pakistan, he replied in the negative. “We know they’re concerned for obvious reasons because of the tensions that have existed between Pakistan and India historically,” he said, adding Delhi has to understand that the United States must maintain relations with multiple partners.
“We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” he stressed, explaining this was part of Washington’s broader policy to work with nations wherever common interests align.
The secretary of state reiterated that growing ties with Pakistan would not hamper America’s “historic” relationship with India. He noted Islamabad and Washington had a long history of cooperation, particularly in counterterrorism. He said the U.S. aimed to expand the relationship beyond security matters.