ISLAMABAD, 27 June 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan wanted a “civilised relationship” with the United States, post-Afghan drawdown and would like to improve bilateral trade ties.

In an interview with New York Times, the prime minister said that after the US announced the deadline for withdrawal of troops from the war-battered country, Pakistan’s leverage on the Taliban had diminished.

He said “Pakistan would want a civilised relationship, which you have between nations, and we would like to improve our trading relationship with the US. So a relationship which is even-handed.”

During the war against terrorism, Imran noted, the Pakistan-US relations were “a bit lopsided” because the US felt that they were giving aid to Pakistan, therefore Pakistan had to do US bidding. He added that what Pakistan did at the US bidding, actually cost the country a lot in human lives.

Seventy thousand Pakistanis died, and over $150 billion were lost to the economy because there were suicide bombings and bombs going on all over the country. That’s where the problem began. The US kept expecting more from Pakistan. And unfortunately, Pakistani governments tried to deliver what they were not capable of.

In the post-drawdown scenario, Imran opined that Pakistan should have some strategic relevance to the US. “We have one of the biggest markets on one side of Pakistan, and then China on [the] other side. And then the energy corridor, Central Asia, Iran. So Pakistan, in that sense, is strategically placed for the future in terms of economics.”