US President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza plan calls for troops from Muslim-majority nations for the transition period in war-torn Palestinian territory but Pakistan has not yet decided on contributing troops to this International Stabilization Force plan. As the pressure from Washington grows, Secretary of State Marco Rubio Friday said he is confident that a number of nation-states will be part of the force.
On a question on whether Pakistan consented to send troops to Gaza, Rubio said: "We're very grateful to Pakistan for their offer to be a part of it, or at least their offer to consider being a part of it. I think we owe them a few more answers before we can ask anybody to firmly commit. But I feel very confident that we have a number of nation-states acceptable to all sides in this conflict who are willing to step forward and be a part of that stabilisation force."
Pakistan Foreign Office Thursday said the decision was still pending. “About Pakistan’s participation in the ISF, we have not taken a decision to participate in ISF as yet,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said at the weekly media briefing.
A Reuters report claimed that Pakistan's field marshal Asim Munir is expected to travel to Washington for talks with Trump with teh Gaza stabilisation force being a top priority topic.
“On the visit of the chief of army staff/chief of defence forces, as reported by Reuters, I can contradict the Reuters story in its essence that it seemed to suggest that the visit has been planned and there is a finality about it. So, I am contradicting that,” Andrabi said, as reported by the Dawn.
“We would wait for an official announcement from the government of Pakistan in the event of such a visit. Our political and military leadership visits different capitals, and when an official visit is organised, an official announcement is made prior to it, which in this case, has not been made.”
The White House also said there is no meeting between Munir and Trump scheduled. “This is not on the President’s calendar at this time,” a White House official said on background, responding to an Arab News query about a possible Trump-Munir meeting.
“The discussion on ISF is ongoing in certain capitals. I am not aware of any specific requests made to Pakistan to send troops. As stated, we have not taken any decision on this subject as yet,” Andrabi said.
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