Pakistan Wants 'Partnership' With U.S., Official Says
Foreign Minister, on D.C. Visit, Conveys Interest in Moving Beyond Security-Based Ties

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 12, 2008

The new government of Pakistan is seeking a "partnership" with the United States and wants tangible signs that the Bush administration will increase aid and embrace Pakistani democracy, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said yesterday.

"We want to be positive, we want to cooperate, we want a long-term relationship, we want a partnership. So how serious are you in broadening that relationship -- that is what we want to know," Qureshi said in a wide-ranging interview with Washington Post editors and reporters.

Qureshi, who met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday in advance of a visit to Washington later this month by Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, said that U.S. officials have answered "yes" to his question but that "it has to be demonstrated in form."

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has provided Pakistan with about $10 billion in aid -- much of it in military assistance -- and has pledged $750 million over five years to aid the federal tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Rice spoke with Qureshi about ways to help Pakistan cope with soaring food and energy prices, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Qureshi, in the interview and later at an appearance at the Brookings Institution, said the new civilian government is trying to shift from the predominantly security-based relationship with the United States when President Pervez Musharraf ruled the country. The new government is led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and Qureshi stressed that the Bush administration should bolster the triumph of democracy represented by the sidelining of Musharraf.

Musharraf remains a figurehead leader, and Qureshi sidestepped questions over how long he should remain in office.

"Our position is that President Musharraf has played an important role, but things have changed significantly, and the message of the people is very clear, and that message has to be understood," he said. Qureshi said the country was undergoing a "very delicate transition" from dictatorship to democracy, adding: "Musharraf will stay as long as the Parliament thinks he should stay -- and let the Parliament take that decision."

Though the Bush administration was long a firm backer of Musharraf, Qureshi said: "I think they are beginning to realize that they have to see beyond Musharraf. Individuals are important, individuals do provide leadership. But ultimately you have to rely on institutions."

On Pakistan's often troubled relationships with its neighbors, Qureshi said the new government was seeking to "build bridges and create goodwill" in Afghanistan and plans a major effort to improve ties with longtime antagonist India.

But he said the U.S.-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is problematic "because there are a lot of people in Afghanistan questioning the way things are being governed." And Qureshi became animated when he discussed the prospects of a rapprochement with India. He said he had just visited New Delhi, where he said he told Indian officials, "an opportunity has come and if they do not grab, it will go." The response from Indian officials was positive, he said.

"I see a desire on both sides for normalization," Qureshi said. "My feeling is that people have outpaced the governments. . . . This region has suffered because of our acrimony and hostility, and the world is moving on and we are lagging behind. Nobody is going to be waiting for us."