Brookings, a United States (US) think tank has urged President Joe Biden to call the newly-elected Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif to amend ties between the two countries.
According to Brooking’s report, Biden should initiate a high-level dialogue with Sharif. The writers of the report Bruce Riedel and Madiha Afzal argued that “the end of American involvement in Afghanistan and the change in leadership in Pakistan presents the US with an opportunity to reset its long-troubled relationship with the world’s fifth-most populous country.”
They argued, “Now Washington can engage with Islamabad without prioritising Afghanistan issues at the expense of our broader interests in regional stability with India and China, encouraging development in South Asia, and supporting the strengthening of the elected democratic forces in Pakistan.”
Further, they pointed out that the US gave a ‘cold shoulder’ to Pakistan. Biden didn’t call the former PM Imran Khan while Khan was in the office although Brookings argued Bided should have.
It is pertinent to mention that the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan strained the already fraught relations between Pakistan and America.
