US is reviewing relations with Pakistan keeping in mind Islamabad’s close links with Taliban

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The United States will be reassessing its relationship with Pakistan to chalk out its strategy on what role it would expect Islamabad to play in the future of Afghanistan.</p>
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In the first public hearing in Congress about Afghanistan after the Taliban swept to power, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that Pakistan has a "multiplicity of interests some that are in conflict with ours."</p>
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"It is one that’s involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan, it's one that's involved harbouring members of the Taliban … It is one that's also involved in different points cooperation with us on counterterrorism," Reuters news agency cited Blinken as saying.</p>
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Asked by lawmakers if it is time for Washington to reassess its relationship with Pakistan, Blinken said the administration would soon be doing that.</p>
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"This is one of the things we're going to be looking at in the days, and weeks ahead – the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years but also the role we would want to see it play in the coming years and what it will take for it to do that," he said.</p>
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The United States and Western countries are caught in a difficult situation as on the one hand they do not want to recognize the Taliban regime but still have to engage with them to prevent a humanitarian crisis that has already hit the war-torn country.</p>
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Pakistan has had deep ties with the Taliban as it harboured militants of the group after they fled Afghanistan when the US troops ousted them from power in 2001 to avenge the 9/11 terror attacks. </p>
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Pakistani ministers have openly proclaimed on national TV channels of how the Taliban leaders grew up in Pakistan and were also educated in the country.</p>
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In fact, Pakistan’s ISI chief had flown to Kabul to resolve the differences between the Haqqani network and the Taliban leadership in the formation of the new government. The Pakistan army has played a key role in helping the Taliban come back to power and now commands formidable clout with the Islamist militants. </p>