Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has spoken with the rulers of two Gulf countries — the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — to discuss the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
According to media reports, the extended fund facility worth $1.2 billion with the IMF was discussed with the Gulf countries, including the upcoming executive board meeting of the IMF, which is expected to ratify the loan programmme.
It is pertinent to mention that the loan programme reportedly came under discussion and a positive development is expected for Pakistan soon.
The development has taken place a week after the COAS was reported to have reached out to US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman over resuming the programme with IMF. He appealed to the US to help Pakistan secure an early dispersal of $1.2 billion in funds.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has appealed to the United States (US) to help Pakistan secure an early dispersal of $1.2 billion in funds under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, reported Wajahat S Khan for Nikkei Asia.
Gen Bajwa spoke by phone with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman earlier this week.
“The IMF has already granted Pakistan staff-level approval for the loan in question on July 13. But the transaction — part of the IMF’s $6 billion Extended Fund Facility for Pakistan — will only be processed after the multilateral lender’s executive board grants final approval,” said the report.
According to an IMF official who also spoke on condition of anonymity, the IMF is going into recess for the next three weeks and its board will not convene until late August. Because of the recess, no date has been set for announcing the loan approval for Pakistan.
“There is a major difference between staff-level approval and board approval. Our stakeholders, the countries that take the vote as to whether they are supporting this or not, make the final decision. This is a difference. So the legally binding step is a board approval, not the staff level agreement,” said the official.
Pakistan’s former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, said, “This reflects the Pakistan army’s concerns about the state of the economy. It also reflects that the Pakistan army chief is the authority with whom the global players feel the final word rests.”
Haqqani said that Pakistan has developed a habit of getting on an IMF plan, getting quick access to a couple of tranches, but then abandoning the deals without making the important structural and systemic changes required for further financing. This has left Pakistan little leverage with international financiers.
“The reason why the IMF program has been delayed is that Pakistan has a track record of not keeping its word with the IMF,” Haqqani said.
“Gen Bajwa calling the US administration, if he has done so, suggests that he is assuring the US — and through the US, the IMF — that any promises made will be kept.”
United States (US) Senator Bob Menendez said that he has asked US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to urge President Joe Biden to have a conversation with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan in an effort to rebuild the Pak-US relationship, reports Geo News.
While addressing a fundraising event, Menendez said, “I think it would serve us well to have such a conversation and, you know when we have these conversations, they are honest, and that means they are also transparent.”
“Where there is an agreement, we build upon it and where there is disagreement, we talk about how do we get through that disagreement,” said Menendez.
“I hope, I can expand on it — not just about Pakistan in the context of a military or security dimension, but much greater– talking about an incredibly large population that is very young; there is tremendous opportunity to build upon the economic dynamism that we create,” he told the members of the American-Pakistani Political Action Committee (APPAC).
US President Joe Biden, who assumed office in January this year, has not yet telephoned PM Khan.
She stated, “My visit to Pakistan is for a very specific narrow purpose and the United States does not see itself building a broad relationship with Pakistan and we have no interest in returning to days of hyphenated [India and Pakistan]. That is not where we are. That is not where we’re going to be.”
“My visit to Pakistan in the context of Afghanistan is in a bid to make sure that Pakistan has the capabilities to ensure everybody’s security, including India’s and the US”, she said as she left India.
According to The News, the government was shocked at Sherman’s undiplomatic statements that she had made in India.
Furthermore, Yusuf blatantly said that Indian human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) also pose a threat to regional peace.
Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi met the Deputy Secretary on Thursday but he didn’t tweet about the meeting. However, Sherman tweeted, “I met today with Pakistan FM to discuss Afghanistan’s future and the important and long-standing US-Pakistan relationship. We look forward to continuing to address pressing regional and global challenges.”
I met today with Pakistani Foreign Minister @SMQureshiPTI to discuss Afghanistan’s future and the important and long-standing U.S.-Pakistan relationship. We look forward to continuing to address pressing regional and global challenges. pic.twitter.com/1tmUAMC18I
— Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell (@DeputySecState) October 8, 2021
Apart from the meetings, while talking to The News’ editors, Sherman said she believed US President Joe Biden will soon talk to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan. She said, “We have an idea that every country wants to have a telephone conversation with US President. I am sure that this conversation will be held with PM Khan soon.”
“I am sure that this contact will take place soon, so I don’t think it should mean anything else,” she added.
Moreover, while replying to a question about a bill presented in September by 22 Republican senators targeting Pakistan, Sherman assured, “We get hundreds of bills; thousands of people are behind them but we are well aware of Pakistan’s concerns and are closely looking at the situation.”
United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, during an exclusive interview on PTV News programme ‘Shahrah-e-Dastoor’, said, “Pakistan should be very proud of 42 years of helping Afghan refugees and the US, as well as the world, was grateful for that,” reports Dawn.
“It is an extraordinary system,” she said, commending Pakistan for continuously helping Afghan refugees.
Sherman was also asked about her comments about relations between the US and Pakistan during her visit to India.
In response to the question about Sherman’s comments where she categorically said, “It’s for a very specific and narrow purpose, we don’t see ourselves building a broad relationship with Pakistan,” Sherman clarified that by “specific steps” she meant that the purpose of her trip to Pakistan was to predominantly focus on the aftermath of events in Afghanistan and review bilateral relationships between the US and Pakistan.
“The US and Pakistan have had longstanding relations for decades,” she said.
She went on to say that “this is a time of great change in [this] region because of the events in Afghanistan”, and the US and the world were reassessing what the future would look like.
She added that the US was glad that Pakistan had called for an inclusive government in Afghanistan and progress on this front should be made so as to “create a better life for the people of Afghanistan”.
“And we also agree that humanitarian assistance [to Afghanistan] should continue,” Sherman said, sharing details of measures taken by the US for this purpose.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Yusuf, in a meeting with United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Thursday, stressed that the world “must maintain contact” with the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan, reports Radio Pakistan.
During the meeting, both sides expressed the desire to promote bilateral relations between the US and Pakistan.
Yusuf and Sherman discussed economic cooperation and the regional security situation.
According to reports, the US was appreciative of Pakistan’s efforts for the evacuation of foreigners from Afghanistan and the help it has extended to the Afghan refugees.
Moeed Yusuf blatantly said that Indian human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) also pose a threat to regional peace.
Sherman took to Twitter and tweeted about her meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
“I met today with Pakistani Foreign Minister @SMQureshiPTI to discuss Afghanistan’s future and the important and long-standing U.S.-Pakistan relationship,” tweeted Sherman.
I met today with Pakistani Foreign Minister @SMQureshiPTI to discuss Afghanistan’s future and the important and long-standing U.S.-Pakistan relationship. We look forward to continuing to address pressing regional and global challenges. pic.twitter.com/1tmUAMC18I
— Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell (@DeputySecState) October 8, 2021
US Deputy Secretary of State and her seven-member team arrived in Islamabad on Thursday for a two-day visit to the country.
United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, while speaking at an event in Mumbai, said, “We (the US) don’t see ourselves building our broad relationship with Pakistan and we have no interest in returning to the days of a hyphenated India, Pakistan. That’s not where we are, that’s not where we are going to be,” reports The Print.
“But we all need to know what’s going on in Afghanistan. We all need to be of one mind in the approach to the Taliban. We all need to make sure that we have the capabilities that we need to ensure everybody’s security, including India’s, of course. So I am going to have some very specific conversations, continuing conversations that Secretary (Antony) Blinken has had (with Pakistan),” she added.
Wendy Sherman is in Pakistan to meet officials during her October 7-8 visit.
Sherman said that her trip to Islamabad is only for a “specific and narrow purpose”.
Taking to Twitter, Sherman wrote, “I met yesterday evening with Pakistani National Security Advisor, Moeed Yusuf to discuss Afghanistan and areas of cooperation in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.”
I met yesterday evening with Pakistani National Security Advisor @YusufMoeed to discuss Afghanistan and areas of cooperation in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. #USPak
— Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell (@DeputySecState) October 8, 2021
“Both of our countries have suffered terribly from the scourge of terrorism and we look forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats,” she said.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will meet with Pakistani officials during her October 7-8 visit.
Ahead of her visit, Sherman told reporters, “We seek a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism and we expect sustained action against all militant and terrorist groups without distinction.”
“Both of our countries have suffered terribly from the scourge of terrorism and we look forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats,” she said.
“If the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) lay down their arms, we can forgive them and they can become normal citizens,” said PM Khan.
“I repeat I do not believe in military solutions. I am anti-military solutions, so I always believe that being a politician, political dialogue is the way ahead, which I always believed was the case in Afghanistan,” added the premier.
