NSC meeting reviews response to US policy
A meeting of the National Security Committee last week already rejected Trump’s policy statement
August 30, 2017
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday.
The country's top civil and military leadership was in attendance to discuss issues of national security.
Sources said the committee devised a response to the US policy on Afghanistan laid out in the recent speech by US President Donald Trump.
In the meeting, which lasted around four hours, the government's response to engage 'friendly' countries following Trump's statement was also discussed.
The director general of military operations gave a detailed briefing on the situation along the borders of India and Afghanistan, according to sources.
The prime minister chaired a meeting of the federal cabinet on Wednesday, which was the first cabinet meeting following Trump’s ‘anti-Pakistan’ comments during his South Asia policy speech last week.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif speaking in Geo News programme Aapas Ki Baat clarified that he will not be visiting US, adding that at this time it is not appropriate for any US official to visit Pakistan and vice versa
A meeting of the National Security Committee last week has already rejected Trump’s policy statement. It was decided during the meeting to contact other friendly countries and take all stakeholders into confidence regarding Pakistan’s reservations over the new US policy.
The premier, in an interview to a foreign news outlet on Monday, made clear that there is only a political solution to the Afghanistan issue.
He observed that Trump’s new policy for the region, as it stands, is bound to be unsuccessful.
Trump in his speech last week came down hard on Pakistan, blaming it for providing safe havens to terrorists.
