Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif hopes to reinvigorate bilateral ties with US under Trump

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said Pakistan has found a new leader in US President Donald Trump to reinvigorate the bilateral strategic partnership.

Shehbaz said he was “extremely grateful to President Trump for his path-breaking leadership and commitment to global peace and for his most valuable offer to play a greater role in bringing lasting peace to South Asia”.

His comments came hours after Trump on Sunday praised the "strong and unwaveringly powerful" leadership of India and Pakistan for reaching a "ceasefire" and offered to work with them for a "solution" on the Kashmir issue.

India has always maintained that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter and there is no space for any third party.

Shehbaz said Pakistan and the US for decades have been partners who worked together closely to protect and promote mutual interests as well as for peace and security in critical parts of the world.

“I am confident that in President @realDonaldTrump, Pakistan has found a great partner who can reinvigorate our strategic partnership and strengthen Pakistan-US ties, not only in trade and investment but in all other areas of cooperation,” Shehbaz said in a post on X.

The Pak-US defence cooperation goes back to the 1950s when Pakistan joined the Western-sponsored alliances to counter the then USSR. The relationship was at its peak during the 1980s when the countries joined hands to fight the Russians in Afghanistan.

However, the ties came under stress when the US invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attack and hit rock bottom when the US killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 in a covert operation in Pakistan.

The ties have not fully recovered as the US developed close ties with India, and Pakistan drifted towards China.

After militant confrontation with India, Shehbaz has expressed a desire to resurrect the lost ties under Trump, but it is not clear if he would succeed.