Hina Rabbani Khar all set to visit Moscow as Pakistan seek a shift in decades-old foreign policy

Hina Rabbani Khar all set to visit Moscow as Pakistan seek a shift in decades-old foreign policy

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, is expected to visit Russia in the first half of February to formally invite the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to visit Pakistan.

Pakistan is extending a hand of renewed relations with Moscow at a time when relations with the United States of America are at its lowest since the inception of Pakistan.

If Dmitry Medvedev accepts the invitation, he will be the first Russian head of state to visit Islamabad.

Relations between Islamabad and Washington have continued to deteriorate since the November 26 Nato airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Consequently Pakistan blocked all NATO routes to Afghanistan and also pushed the CIA to halt its indiscriminate drone strikes that have not been received well by the people of Pakistan and are seen as a clear violation of the sovereignty of the country.

Pakistan’s move to reach out other countries is part of its policy review which was launched after the NATO strikes.

“There was a consensus that we should take our relationship with Russia to the next level,” said a foreign office official.

It is believed Pakistan is looking for support from other countries as it seeks to limit its relationship with the US in its war against terror.

Meanwhile, cordial relations with Pakistan are imperative for the US in order to find a durable solution to the war in Afghan which would help the US recall its forces, however, without Pakistan’s involvement the US is expected to stay entangled in the decade-old
Afghan war.

During the Cold War, Pakistan and Russia had bitter relations, while Moscow also has bitter memories of its Afghan war which it lost due to Pakistan’s heavy support towards the Afghan Mujahedeen fighting against the Soviet occupuation. But in recent years
the two countries have attempted to move beyond that phase of their relationship.

In an unprecedented statement following the Nato attacks on Pakistani check posts last year, Russia publicly denounced the incident, emphasising that a nation’s sovereignty should always be upheld, even when hunting ‘terrorists’. 

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10092

Posted by Ammar Ahmad on Jan 22 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry