Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke by phone today with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir.
Secretary Austin and Gen. Munir discussed areas of mutual interest as well as recent regional developments.
October 4, 2023
Source: US Defense
Urdu media editorial
US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin has spoken to Pakistan Army Chief
General Asim Munir over the phone in which various issues have been
discussed. Defense Secretary Brigadier General Pete Ryder said in a
statement that the defense minister and General Munir discussed matters
of mutual interest and recent developments in the region. Pakistan
military’s public relations department has not yet said anything about the
phone conversation. Experts working on Pakistani affairs in Washington
consider this conversation important in many respects because Pakistan
is currently suffering from political instability while the incidents of
terrorism have also increased. Dr. Marvin Weinbaum, director of
Pakistan-Afghanistan studies at the Middle East Institute, a think tank in
the US capital, says that the growing tension between Pakistan and
Afghanistan would have been a key topic of discussion in the talks. In this
regard, he noted that there has been a significant increase in terrorist
attacks in Pakistan in recent months. Dr. Weinbaum said that because the
interests of the United States is in a stable Pakistan, hence the
discussion between the Minister of Defense and the Pakistan Army Chief
may have included the issue of what the United States can do to help
Pakistan fight terrorism. In his view, the regional incidents refer to the
terrorist incidents in Pakistan and the ongoing tensions in Pakistan and
Afghanistan and that would definitely have been discussed. Arif Ansar,
the head of a research institute called the Polytechnic Institute in
Washington, says that in the current context of Pakistan, he considers the
talks between the US Defense Minister and the Pakistan Army Chief very
important. Because Pakistan currently has an interim government whose
job is only to hold elections. In this case, as in the past, the most
important means of communication with Pakistan is the military channel.
According to Arif Ansar, the attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and
recently ISIS in Pakistan may worsen the ongoing instability in Pakistan
and the US Defense Secretary would have tried to know Pakistan’s
analysis on this issue. He says that in these extraordinary circumstances
when the country is facing serious problems and there is no elected
government, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the US wants to know
about democracy and elections in Pakistan. In this regard, he pointed to
several statements of the US State Department and said that Washington
emphasizes the importance of democracy and transparent elections in
Pakistan. According to him, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the head
of a major political party in Pakistan, is under detention, while no final
date for the elections has been given. Therefore, the United States is
interested in Pakistan’s stability and the future of democracy associated
with it. Looking at the situation in a broad perspective, Arif Ansar said that
on the occasion of the G-20 meeting, the corridor to connect India with
the Middle East and Europe and its effects on the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor and the Ukraine war may also be discussed. ( English translation of Urdu
Voice of America, Jasarat)