The US is developing risk communication plans to access landlocked Afghanistan, which is currently dependent on Pakistan, a Trump Administration official has said.
The decision comes after relationship between the US and Pakistan nosedived as a result of Trump Administration’s decision to suspend approximately USD 2 billion in security assistance as Islamabad was not willing to take decisive actions against terror groups operating from its territory.
A senior Trump Administration official has said the US is developing risk mitigation plan, given the past experience that Pakistan blocks ground lines of communication as retaliatory measure.
His comments came after Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said in an interview in Islamabad that Pakistan does not consider the US an ally any longer after suspension of security assistance.
“We are looking at ways to deal with these issues. We are developing risk communication plans. One of the issues that we continually look at are the access issues. There have been periods in the past of course when Pakistan closed down the ground lines of communication in 2011 and 2012,” the official told reporters.
“As such the US continues to look at what options it would have in such a scenario. Obviously Afghanistan being a landlocked country, this becomes very challenging. But we do have options that we’re considering and looking at and we continue to evaluate. But our hope is that we will be able to work with Pakistan and continue the kind of cooperative arrangements that we have had over the last 15 years,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Given the strong reaction that has come from Pakistan in the wake of suspension of security assistance, that is expected to hit the Pakistani military, the official said the Trump Administration is looking at potential Pakistan’s response.
“We are well aware of how they can potentially respond and we are looking at ways to deal with that and to mitigate any of the risks,” the official said.
