ISLAMABAD - In a briefing delivered at his opulent villa outside Lahore, The head of Pakistani Muslim League (N) Mian Nawaz Sharif, who won the recent parliamentary election in Pakistan with clear majority, declared himself a friend to the US but that Washington must understand Pakistan’s concerns about drone strikes.
Western capitals have been waiting to hear Mr. Sharif discuss his stance on the war on terror after a campaign featuring anti-American rhetoric.
“We will facilitate the Americans as far as the withdrawal is concerned,” he said on Monday.
“American troops are being withdrawn in 2014. We will extend full to support to them and we will see that everything goes well, smoothly with them.”
The US is committed to withdrawing the bulk of its troops by the end of next year, but needs Pakistan’s help to deliver a political solution to Afghanistan’s conflict.
Islamabad has shut the Khyber Pass and port of Karachi to NATO supplies several times in the past three years amid fears it was becoming a less reliable partner.
As a result, American diplomats have developed an alternative, northern route through the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Mr Sharif’s promise of support - although lacking detail - will go some way to reassuring NATO countries that they can rely on the cheaper southern route.
Officials said that meant ensuring security against Taliban attacks and a commitment to being a cooperative partner.
Although final results have yet to be declared, Mr Sharif is on course for a decisive victory in the general election, with forecasts of about 127 out of 272 seats.
With his allocation of seats reserved for women and minorities, that means he need attract only 16 of the 30 or so independents elected to form a majority without having to engineer the sort of fragile coalition that has hobbled Pakistan for the past five years.
He laid out his plans for government at his family residence in Raiwind. This has long been the headquarters of the Sharif family, who accumulated their vast wealth from the steel industry, as well as a target for critics who sneer at what they see as Mr Sharif’s vulgar tastes.
Bright beds of pink and violet petunias flanked the long driveway that leads up to his whitewashed villa. More than 100 peacocks strutted the rolling lawns on either side.
Inside, two stuffed lions from Botswana guard the entrance hall and remind visitors they are in the presence of the man nicknamed “the lion of Punjab”.
Plates of dates, boxes of chocolates and sugary Pakistani sweets were laid out in the drawing room — gifts from well-wishers sent after Saturday’s election.
Mr Sharif, who delivered his words in his usual measured way, added that America’s covert program of drone strikes “challenged” Pakistan’s sovereignty.
“I think this is a very important issue and our concern must be understood properly,” he said. “And we will sit with our American friends and we will certainly talk to them about this issue.
Mr Sharif, 63, is returning for his third stint as prime minister. He was deposed in 1999 when General Pervez Musharraf seized power.
He won the election by trading on his experience and a promise to fix an almost bankrupt economy, comfortably seeing off Imran Khan’s upstart campaign.
Although his supporters are bitterly disappointed at the result, Mr Khan, Pakistan’s former cricket captain has won seats across the country and is in talks to lead a coalition in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“If his party can take that on and show that they can actually run something, then Imran is well placed for the next election,” said a Western diplomatic source. (Agencies)