Could Trump's change of tone help mend ties with Pakistan?

US President Donald Trump lauded Pakistan after its army secured the release of an American-Canadian family from the custody of a terrorist outfit.

The news shone a positive light on Pakistan, a country that Trump had once accused of insincerity in the fight against terror.

Pakistani Security forces, with the support of US intelligence, freed an American woman, her Canadian husband and their three children which were born in Taliban captivity, from terrorists’ on Wednesday night.

The Taliban kidnapped the couple in Afghanistan during a backpacking trip in Central Asia in 2012.

A still image from a video posted by the Taliban on social media on December 19, 2016 shows American Caitlan Coleman (L) speaking next to her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle and their two sons.

“US intelligence agencies had been tracking them and shared their moving across to Pakistan on Oct 11, 2017, through the Kurram Agency border,” said a statement from Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), referring to tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

A sigh of relief

The US, Canada and parents of the hostages have all voiced relief at the release of the family.

US Central Command thanked Pakistan, saying this is a positive sign and recognition of how seriously Islamabad takes the protection of US citizens.

Trump made a tangent in his speech at the White House to announce the couple’s release.

“We hope to see this type of cooperation and teamwork in helping secure the release of remaining hostages and in our future joint counter-terrorism operations,” he said.

This change of tone from the US came after Trump's previous comments against Pakistan, which brought relations between the two countries to historic lows.

Trump announced in August that US troops would remain in Afghanistan without a timetable for withdrawal while accusing Pakistan of being insincere in the fight against terror, and of being duplicitous in its financial dealings with the US.

"We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," Trump said when announcing his policy review.

"It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order, and to peace."

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in August that Pakistan must adopt a different approach.

He faced a storm of criticism after he cast blame on Pakistan, including the country issuing a stern official response to Trump.

Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) rejected the allegations and said Afghan war could not be fought in their country.

"Attack on prosperity"

Earlier this month, the US objected to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a stance viewed in Pakistan as an endorsement of the Indian position on the project.

The 56 billion US dollar CPEC passes through Pakistan’s northern areas, which India claims is part of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir territory.

Defense Secretary James Mattis last week agreed that the CPEC passes through disputed territory and the US could not ignore this fact.

Responding to the US reservations, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said that CPEC is a development and connectivity project for the prosperity in the region and beyond.

It urged the international community to instead focus on the human rights violations committed by Indian forces in Kashmir.

“The international community should focus on human rights violations and heinous crimes committed by Indian occupation forces in Indian occupied Kashmir,” the Foreign Office said in a statement released on October 7.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal asked the US to deal with Pakistan on its own merit instead of tagging it to other countries states and issues in the region.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal asked the US not to view CPEC from the Indian perspective.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC on Wednesday, he said it was an economic project to bring peace and stability to South Asia and neighboring regions and not a security strategy.

The winds of change, however, appear to be blowing.

A US delegation held talks with the civilian and military leadership on Thursday, agreeing to a continuation of bilateral engagement at all levels and renewing relations to realize what they said was the common objective of defeating terrorism, Pakistani media reported.

(CGTN)