Senior aide to President Trump recently visited Pakistan to further strengthen relations and to witness the economic measures taken to stabilize the economy of the country. She was quite impressed with the results:
We’ve been pleased to see progress by Pakistan towards fulfilling FATF obligations. It’s a question of fulfilling the requirements that have been spelled out and that are asked of all countries in the international system. So it’s not a political process, but we certainly support and stand ready to assist Pakistan as it implements these obligations. The completion of the FATF action plan is critical to Pakistan’s economic reform efforts, including its IMF programme, as well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action against all militant groups based in Pakistan without distinction.
The more evidence of Pakistan’s seriousness in both documenting its economy and in shrinking the space for militants to be able to take advantage of Pakistan’s either banking system or territory, the more confidence the international community and the business community will have in working with Pakistan
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She also commended the position that Pakistan took in the conflict between the US and Afghanistan.
Pakistan has important leverage to promote lasting security and stability in Afghanistan. I held meetings with government, military, civil society, and business leaders [in Islamabad]. At the top of the agenda was [an] understanding [on] how we can grow our bilateral relationship commensurate with the cooperation that we are achieving in promoting peace in Afghanistan and regional stability.
Regarding US Pakistan relations she said:
We’ve seen obvious progress in our relations with Pakistan, from the high-level engagement such as the President’s [Donald Trump] warm and constructive meeting with Prime Minister [Imran] Khan at Davos to the restoration of the International Military Education and Training programmes.
There are obvious synergies in energy and agriculture, and opening Pakistan’s markets to American investments creates jobs and wealth without sacrificing standards or fuelling corruption,” she added. “We’re looking forward to welcoming 10 Pakistani buyer delegations to the US and five regional trade shows in 2020, which will build deeper relationships between the US and Pakistani firms. Prime Minister Khan’s economic reform efforts contributed to the World Bank identifying it as one of the top 10 reformers globally in 2019.
She also had a few words for Chinese impact on Pakistan through CPEC:
The argument that I was making in Pakistan is that there are opportunities and should be opportunities for American investment, American energy firms, and manufacturers are interested in the Pakistani market. You have Exxon-Mobil, Excelerate, Cargill, Honeywell, all pursuing major new investments. You have Uber creating 80,000 jobs for Pakistani youth.
She concluded with the following words:
As a friend of Pakistan, we certainly urge that they take on investment projects that create wealth, generate employment, and are sustainable, and think we have great options for the Pakistani market
