U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said Pakistan had “offered” to join a proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza but stressed that much needs to be done to clarify the force’s functions before asking any country to commit to it.
Last week, Pakistan was among around 45 countries that attending a conference hosted by U.S. Central Command in Qatar. The aim of the conference was to discuss the ISF’s command structure and other unresolved operational issues.
To a question on whether Washington had secured Pakistan’s consent for deploying its troops for peacebuilding in Gaza, Rubio said the United States was “very grateful to Pakistan for their offer to be a part of it, or at least their offer to consider being a part of it.” However, he added, “several questions” must be answered before Washington could ask any country to formally commit.
“I feel very confident that we have a number of nation-states acceptable to all sides of this who are willing to step forward and be a part of that stabilization force and certainly, Pakistan is key, if they agree to do so,” he said.
According to the Secretary of State, several key issues related to the force’s mandate, command structure, and funding arrangements are still under discussion. “I think the next step here is announcing the Board of Peace, the Palestinian technocratic group that will help provide daily governance,” he said. “Once that‘s in place, I think that will allow us to firm up the stabilization force, including how it’s going to be paid for, what their rules of engagement are, what their role will be in demilitarization and so forth.”
A day earlier, during a weekly press briefing, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said Islamabad had not yet decided on contributing troops to the ISF. The spokesperson said discussions remain at an exploratory stage, and have yet to reach the point of any commitments.