ISLAMABAD: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday expressed regret for past US policies that cut military ties with Pakistan, saying the move was “a grave strategic mistake” that had damaged relations.
Speaking at the National Defence University in Islamabad, he said a US ban on military contacts in the 1990s over Pakistan”s nuclear programme undermined a bond between their armed forces and created a lingering “trust deficit”.
He vowed the United States was “prepared to invest whatever time and energy it takes to forge and sustain a genuine, lasting partnership” with Pakistan.
“I was in government in the early 1990s, when Russia left the region and the United States largely abandoned Afghanistan and cut off defence ties with Pakistan, a grave strategic mistake driven by some well-intentioned but short-sighted US legislative and policy decisions,” said Gates.
Gates told the military audience that the United States “does not covet a single inch of Pakistani soil.” The US has no plans for military bases and “we have no desire to control Pakistan”s nuclear weapons,” Gates said.
