Good morning ladies is ultimate. Welcome to the Carnegie Endowment. My name is george and i am a Vice President for studies here at the endowment. Its my pleasure to welcome you this morning for a discussion with pakistans relatively new ambassador to the United States , asad majeed khan. While he arrived in his ambassador position in january, he has long and deep experience both in washington, working on u. S. Issues back in the ministry and most recently was serving as ambassador to japan. Before coming here. He has an outstanding sense of not only dynamics with the u. S. , but globally and him particular asian security. We are honored to have you with us. What we will do, i will ask a few questions to get the discussion started. And then we will turn it into a larger discussion. I have invited the ambassador if at any time he wants to ask you all a question or me a question, about what is going on in this very predictable rational environment in which we live in in washington, we are fair game. Everybody should understand that it is meant to be truly a twoway conversation. Ambassador is a talented one so i will focus on Foreign Policy issues. As we get started, i suppose i should ask how you are finding the environment in washington now compared to the years prior when you serve twoyear . But i can imagine that you are too good at your job to want to answer that in a really interesting way. I want to leave on the table to begin with, the first question or comment, what are the challenges like representing pakistan now in mid2019 . Thank you very much george. First of all let me thank you and the Carnegie Endowment for giving me this opportunity to come and share perspectives and positions on issues of interest in washington, d. C. In washington, d. C. I know the audience here a very well informed one. So i am here to say my piece as i am here to hear the information and perspectives from the audience. Yes, i think i have a Long Association with your beautiful country. Not just in washington, i served for over six years in new york as well as our Permanent Mission there. And having served as the acting ambassador in d. C. I think this particular is different from any other capital in the world. Is defined by the incumbent at the white house and the whole team that follows when the administration changes. So even if you know the place very well, and you are well aware of the process also, the city is a different city. When you come to a new and different administration. I of course, despite knowing the city very well, i am trying to find my way around here in d. C. In d. C. And this position as challenging as they can get, particularly for a pakistani ambassador. I can also say that in our world , being accredited as an ambassador to the United States is as good as it can get for any diplomat. I am very honored and feel very privileged to carry my country flag in this very important country which i believe is the center of the world. That is certainly the way people here see it. [ laughter ]let me then focus on south asia. Precisely because we are the center of the world and tend to think less about other parts of the world, even parts of the world that have many more people and many more challenges. I want to turn to pakistan, in particular, the underlying fundamental development, which is pakistan is reportedly going to receive another package of support from the i. M. F. , the International Monetary fund for 6 billion. I believe this is the 13th in the last 30 years of these bailouts. I guess among the questions is, how did the repeated cycles of economic crisis and then i. M. F. Assistance, how do they affect the worlds perception of kind of, pakistans importance and why and how to deal with pakistan . And also, if you have a sense of how this affects the dynamic within pakistan and the sense of priorities within pakistan . That are so often this challenge of economic crisis and turning for help on the balance of payments. I think a lot of attention has been of late given to pakistans resort to the i. M. F. Facility. I think as a member of i. M. F. , we are entitled to have resort to that facility, when we need to. And then, i. M. F. Carries out a professional and Technical Evaluation of the liquidity status of that particular country. And based on the evaluation, determines the size of the package. Based on the history of that country. Yes, i think we face both structural and cyclical problems. We do face economic challenges. And coming to the i. M. F. , is not something where we have unusual. As you just pointed out, we have done that many times in the past. You may also say, pakistan has never defaulted on its debt payments. Our debt to gdp ratio if not better, its as good as other countries at similar level of development. And therefore, coming to the i. M. F. Should not impact or be seen as critically as lately projected in some of the foreign media. As regards, the steps that we need to take, those steps in terms of expanding the domestic tax base, generating our domestic resources, stopping the state enterprises, rationalizing the expanding our exports and enhancing our competitiveness. These are steps. These are tough decisions that the government actually is determined to take independent of what the i. M. F. Conditionalitys might be eventually. Because these are the steps we will require to basically enhance our productivity and competitiveness to basically be able to export more. Because unless and until we are able to do that, i dont think we will be able to have the basis that would basically prevent us from repeatedly coming back to the i. M. F. The budget and some of the steps that the government is taking, are reflective of that determination that the government has to make those difficult choices and decisions we need to make. And its not just the i. M. F. Actually. I think some of our friends and partners have also contributed to that. Including yesterday, the emir of qatar was there also. That is again, a mark of confidence in pakistans economy. Pakistan is no small country. We have no small economy. We still feel that this is a small part of what we owe. And once we are able to put our house in order, i think we will be able to meet our debt obligation as we have done 70 years of our existence. Has the u. S. Been kind of pushing conditionality in ways that the government of pakistan is aware . And if so, are some of the conditions that the u. S. Is pushing different than they would have been in prior years . Is there anything new . Or is it the usual encouragement about expanding the tax base and so on . I dont think the i. M. F. Has its own goals. It has its own technical teams and missions that go across to the countries. Engage with the concern people. And agree on the elements of the package. And that package then goes to the vote. Where whatever package we have agreed to has been agreed to the technical level and is supposed to go to the vote. I dont think that i can i have heard of any specific conditionalitys that the United States has particularly pushed for. So far a technical process. That the i. M. F. And the i. M. F. Personnel are leading. Let me turn to Financial Action. In a sense, the logic of these questions really does focus on the economy and development and challenges to pakistans building its strength in a sense and its wellbeing for its population with the idea as china showed over the decades and india has shown in recent decades. That is also how you have been projecting power and influence and protect your interests. The Financial Action task force for those who dont follow it, it is often called, an International Body that says standards and promotes effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating Money Laundering, financing of terrorist activities and organizations and protecting the integrity of the financial, Global Financial system. This body, i believe 27 countries was meeting in orlando, florida last week. There was also a Campaign Event but i dont think they are related. Last week. It just occurred to me. Pakistan was placed on the gray list a while back. And the risk is it is a prelude to going on the blacklist, what you are put on for failure to take adequate or recommended steps to prevent Money Laundering and facilitation of terrorism. The media reported last week at the meeting in orlando, that pakistan was not put on the blacklist. It reports were that china, turkey and malaysia voted to prevent that. And three out of the 27 are required i believe to prevent that. What i am more interested in, last week, right before the meeting or during the meeting, there were media reports that pakistanis security entities had shut down some terrorist Training Camps or militant Training Camps in the pakistani part of kashmir and taking other steps against some of the designated groups. While that was welcomed by a lot of people, some assumed this was part of heading off the action and thought to put pakistan on the blacklist. But i guess the question is, a lot of people are curious about , have you been instructed that these actions have been taken . So that there were kind of new and more decisive actions taken against these groups in the recent days . Let me say that the pakistan willingly and voluntarily signed on to. Its a program that is a working program. Its a tough set of conditions with a rather short timeline. But actions that we are taking against that is one part. Then, there is this Broad Movement against extremist groups. Against nonstate actors. Against anyone who is or is likely to abuse pakistan space. Facilities or territory against anyone. They are determined to act against all those elements. And this is part of our National Action plan. And if you look at those 20 points covered in the National Action plan, taking action against Terrorism Financing is an important part of that. And against militant organizations. I can say that we have covered a lot of ground. A lot of ground. Just over the last few months. We have actually seized assets of around 700 entities. We have now taken over the facilities run by some of those prescribed entities. The State Government has. We have prescribed about 11 new entities. And we also, just in terms of the terrorist financing cases, the percentage has gone up almost 95 . Similarly, there is 175 increase in the arrests that have been made to that. So there is also almost 52 rise in conviction rates. So really, i think all of this is reflective of the political will that the new government in pakistan has to take on these challenges frontally. We are also as part of that political will, putting in place the infrastructure and the legal framework. And that there is also this determination to see it through , in terms of vigorously implementing those. And i think, george, this is a broad message that i would really like to share with you and through you with your audience. There is a new pakistan. A pakistan where the leadership is determined to make a difference in the lives of the common man. This is a government with a people centered, development focused, and peace oriented agent. There is a clear recognition that without peace, the government will not be able to implement and execute its Development Agent that would not be able to enable our people to realize their dreams and aspirations. Folks in pakistan as much want the jobs, better health, better education for the kids as well as in the United States, your country. That is the new approach. I think if you look at the security situation today in pakistan, we had the lowest number of terrorists incidents in the last 12 years. Last year was the lowest. We hope to actually take that further down this year. This is really reflective of the ground that we have covered. And this also reflects the determination that we have in taking the fight to its logical conclusion. Being a part of that vital effort that we are making, we are not making it because we are obligated to do it under threat. We are doing it because its part of our National Action plan. We feel that what is really important, because you alluded to the media. And unfortunately most of the media reports have come from india. Its really, and i think that is where we need to be careful. Because we should not let any one country basically pursue its own political agenda, through the international institutions. We feel that we have done a lot. We are also clear and determined to do more. But we would not want the jury to be rigged. And there are already predetermined positions. In the statements issued by the indian minister for finance. The statements issued by the other senior leaders. Particularly calling for the blacklisting of pakistan. Ironically, india is also the cochair of the apg. So you put yourself in our position and you ask us as to what what our confidence level be in terms of the fairness of that jury sitting in judgment on our performance . But having said that, we are still taking it very seriously and we are determined to take it to the logical conclusion. The good news is i think china becomes the chair after india. A few more months and you can breathe easier. I wanted what you said is really important. As you know, the people who followed developments in pakistan and the region more broadly over the years will remember president sharif said the same in 2002. And other civilian leaders have also emphasized the importance of peace within the country and fighting terrorism within the country as well as those groups who project violence outward. And yet, things kept happening. So the question that people always ask is, what about the military . Is the military on board . Do they support these policies including the isi . In that regard i want to ask about a change that was reported in the pakistani media, i think is true, last week about the change in the leadership of the interservices intelligence last week, which came almost exactly the same time as the meeting in orlando. As i understand it, where the incumbent, the general who left had only been in the office for eight months. So it was somewhat unusual. Some people are saying this is an example or suggest the way in which the Army Leadership really does want to press hard on these groups. And that was one of the reasons you made a change. I dont want you to commit political suicide by jumping into these issues of personnel within the military. But people in pakistan take this as another example that the government actually serious and that the army is serious about this time going after these groups. First of all, i think eight months should not be views as a yardstick. I think the term of office for some of the senior officials in the United States perhaps have been shorter. [ laughter ] yes. And i would really, dont read too much into that. I mean, these are changes that are made depending on whatever the realities on the ground are. And i think its for you to see what follows. And i think its about walking the talk. And it is about doing things. Verbal commitments. Assurances. Obviously, if one were to go by the description that we keep hearing about the influence that the military has in pakistan, then whatever actions we have taken over the past few years, obviously would not have happened without the active support of the military in pakistan. So really, if i were to look at it in logical terms, really, whatever is happening is happening with the active support of the military leadership. And i can say this. You know, i think that National Action plan and this consensus that we have in pakistan. Because we have suffered more than anyone else. We have borne the brunt and face the consequences. And therefore, there is this recognition that there are actions. Of course, there are situations and there are occasions where some of these actions cannot be made irreversible because of the legal constraints. Some evidence that would make perfect political sense through intelligence, may not be worth anything when brought before the court of law and is subjected to judicial scrutiny. These are the challenges and these are the things that we are trying to be aware. Its a tall order. But you can have my assurance. And i think whatever is happening on the ground, further confirms the ownership of all policies by all the stakeholders. I have just two more questions. Foreign policy and then we will open it up. The next one i am thinking of is pakistan indian relations. Last week was a busy week. Last week i believe the Prime Minister modi and foreign minister sent letters to your Prime Minister. Responding to the earlier letters congratulating them and opening dialogue. Some reports held that these letters back were constructive. We know that pakistan has generally seeks dialogue and wants india to reconstitute dialogue when its cut. I want to ask a different question, what does pakistan want from dialogue with india . Whether it would be through the foreign ministries or back channels . Right now, what would be pakistans central ambition or objective in dialogue with india . You know, i think there has never been as big a vacuum in terms of conversation and dialogue with india as we have now. We are two nuclear powers. India is the second largest country in the world. We are the fifth or sixth largest country in the world. Both of us have a huge military machine. You know, i think its only natural that our two countries stay engaged. And there are conflicts. There are disputes between our two countries. That the new government, and i will come back to what i said earlier, i think there is a consistent backing that you see in terms of our desire and our quest for peace with india. Trust me, dont take it in any way as a sign of weakness. But it is born out of this recognition that these country whose people and populations have their aspirations, have tremendous potential. And the Prime Minis