Pakistan has other options if US President Joe Biden continues to ignore the leadership of the country, said Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf. However, the US State Department has already assured Islamabad that Washington recognises Pakistan’s vital role in restoring peace in Afghanistan and wants the country to play that role

Pakistan has other options if US President Joe Biden continues to ignore the leadership of the country, said Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf.

In an interview, Yusuf told The Financial Times, “The president of the United States hasn’t spoken to the prime minister of such an important country, who the US itself says is make-or-break in some cases, in some ways, in Afghanistan — we struggle to understand the signal, right?”

Yusuf added, “We’ve been told every time that… [the phone call] will happen, it’s technical reasons or whatever. But frankly, people don’t believe it.”

While refusing to elaborate, the NSA said, “If a phone call is a concession, if a security relationship is a concession, Pakistan has options.”

However, the US State Department has already assured Islamabad that Washington recognises Pakistan’s vital role in restoring peace in Afghanistan and wants the country to play that role.

US State Department’s spokesman Ned Price said, “Pakistan has much to gain and will continue to have a critical role, be well-positioned to have a role in supporting the outcome in Afghanistan.”

Price, in a briefing in Washington on Monday, said, “Not only the United States seeks, but that many of our international partners, many of the countries in the region also seek this supporting role from Pakistan. So, we’ll continue to work and to communicate closely with our Pakistani partners on this.”