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Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, while briefing the Senate on Wednesday regarding the talks held between Pakistani and American delegations a day earlier, asserted that Islamabad will co-operate with Washington in the ‘war on terror’ but without compromising its own sovereignty.

On Tuesday, a six-member delegation comprising Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership hosted US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for a brief visit to Islamabad.

Asif briefed that the Pakistani leadership told the American delegation that they should allow their policymakers, and not their military leaders, to devise a policy for Afghanistan as the military solution has failed and a political solution is needed.

“Their failures over the past 16 years [since the war in Afghanistan started] is before them,” Asif added.

“There will only be room for improvement if Washington accepts their defeat, their failures in Afghanistan,” Asif said on Wednesday. “They are not ready to accept this.”

During the talks, Asif told the Senate, Pakistani officials informed the American delegation that Pakistan does not want any military hardware, economic resources or material gain from Washington. Rather, Pakistan wants a relationship based on equality with the US.

Asif further informed the Senate that the Pakistani side has told the American delegation that if the latter provides actionable intelligence, Pakistan will act on it. He gave the example of the recent rescue of an American-Canadian couple and their three children from terrorists’ captivity in Kohat.

“However, if they want that we act as their proxies to fight their war… this is unacceptable.”

“We will not compromise on our sovereignty, our dignity,” Asif added. “Our relations [with America] should be based on self-respect and dignity.”….More Here