China, Russia defend Pakistan against Trump criticism

KARACHI: In a fast changing geo-political scenario, Pakistan find itself in a strong position after US President Donald Trump's scathing comments against Islamabad in Afghan policy statement earlier this week.

Trump, unveiling his Afghanistan strategy this week, said Pakistan was playing a double game by accepting American aid while giving safe haven to “Agents of chaos” who kill Afghan and NATO troops.

Soon after Trump’s criticism, China issued a strong message defending Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan and asked the global community to acknowledge Islamabad’s sacrifices in war against terrorism.

Reinforcing its stance, China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi in a phone call told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to ‘value Pakistan's role in Afghanistan and respect its security concerns’.

"We must value Pakistan's important role on the Afghanistan issue, and respect Pakistan's sovereignty and reasonable security concerns," Chinese media quoted Yang as saying.

Russia echoed a similar sentiment. Russian Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov lambasted Trump’s Pakistan strategy and insisted that Islamabad is “a key regional player to negotiate with.”

“Putting pressure [on Pakistan] may seriously destabilize the region-wide security situation and result in negative consequences for Afghanistan,” the Russian presidential envoy to Kabul said.

Pakistan is mulling a formal response to Trump’s statement and new Afghan policy in a high-level security meeting at the Prime Minister House.