US, Pakistan need each other: Haqqani

* Reimbursement for Pakistan’s expenditure withheld, not aid

Washington: Denying that the relationship between the US and Pakistan has deteriorated, Islamabad’s top envoy in Washington has said that both the countries need each other and share multi-dimensional ties. “Not at all,” Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said when asked if the relationship between the US and Pakistan had deteriorated.

“Pakistan and the United States have a complex, multi-dimensional relationship. Both countries need each other. Occasionally there are differences between the best of allies,” he said during an interview with National Public Radio (NPR). “We’ve seen that through history: France and the United States had problems; Britain and the United States did not always agree on the conduct of the Second World War,” he argued.

“I think what we see is basically a difficult, complex relationship playing out in an age of media glare. But what comes in the media glare is not always what happens in private between us as allies,” he added. Responding to questions about the US withholding military aid to Pakistan, Haqqani said, “What has been withheld or delayed are coalition support payments and not aid.” “They are reimbursement for Pakistan’s expenditure in the course of action against terrorists. And these payments have not actually come through since December 2010,” he said.

“The United States has been relatively slow in reimbursing Pakistan. We will take it up with them, have taken it up with them, and we hope that it will clear up over time,” said the ambassador.

“Pakistan and the United States have been allies for a long time. Where we have always disagreed is over is that the American timelines for specific actions are not necessarily the same as Pakistani timelines,” he said. “We have to take into account a lot of ground realities. We have to take into account how our public feels,” he said. “The fundamental fact is that the will and the intention to eliminate terrorism from Pakistan is shared both by Islamabad and Washington,” he said. “Terrorists are as much Pakistan’s enemies as they are of the US,” Haqqani said. daily times monitor

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