DURING a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Imran Khan, US President Donald Trump assured to provide assistance to Pakistan in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and coping with its economic impact. This gesture on the part of the US is highly appreciable and welcomed as the country itself is currently striving hard to reverse the course of the pandemic where it has infected over eight hundred thousand people and claimed the lives of over forty seven thousand people. However, the current situation warrants that the developed world extends full assistance including financial and technical to the developing countries such as Pakistan to meet this unprecedented challenge. The pandemic is taking a heavy toll on the economy of Pakistan with contraction of both remittances and exports whilst hundreds of thousands of people stand jobless due to closure of businesses. To provide a continuous succour to such families, Pakistan requires massive support from friendly countries such as the United States. This will also go a long way in further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries. The US has already contributed more than $ 8 million dollars to Pakistan’s efforts for stopping the spread of Coronavirus and improving medical facilities for treatment of infected patients. As more US aid is expected after the US President’s assurance, it must be directly given to the government so that it could be used more effectively to provide relief to the disadvantaged segments of the society. Other friendly countries especially those in the Gulf must also be contacted to garner maximum support from them at this hour of trial. Both PM Khan and President Trump also discussed the situation in Afghanistan. Indeed the current situation arising out of Coronavirus must not be allowed to undermine what positive progress has so far been made vis-à-vis the Afghan peace process. Efforts need to be accelerated to bring the Afghan government and Taliban to the table of negotiations in order to thwart the designs of spoilers. The US is consistently pitching for enhanced Indian role in Afghanistan. This very position must be revisited by Washington as involving New Delhi will amount to keeping the war-torn country in an unending turmoil since India will never allow peace return to Afghanistan and use the land as a proxy against Pakistan.
