produced by the Council of American Ambassadors on American Ambassadors Live!

THE TOP THREE

1. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan visits the White House What's going on This week President Trump met with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House in what was Prime Minister Khan's first visit to Washington since he was elected last year. Discussion topics focused on trade, repairing U.S.-Pakistan relations, and ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan.

What the Ambassadors are saying "I have had this sense from the start that by going into talks with the Taliban, without the Afghan government being there, we've effectively been saying, 'We surrender.' I see this as a pretty clumsily managed part of that overall endeavor...[Pakistan] will look forward to the Taliban taking over the country. That's been behind their almost two-decade refusal to clamp down on [Taliban] leadership....[The U.S.-Pakistan relationship] will be completely transactional. That's how the Pakistanis have viewed it since 9/11. I expect we're asking them to get the Taliban to cease direct attacks on our personnel in Afghanistan since we're leaving anyway. We're saying 'It can go well for you, Pakistan. Just cooperate on the small things.' The Pakistanis learned a hard and bitter lesson after the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, when we also walked out the door, leaving them with the Afghan civil war while we were reimposing sanctions on them. After 9/11, they said, 'We're happy to have you, but we know how you work. You're going to be leaving. And if you think we're going to turn the Taliban into an existential enemy while you leave, you're crazy.'" -Ambassador Ryan Crocker; former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon; Foreign Polic y

2. Huawei helped build North Korea wireless network What's going on Having obtained leaked spreadsheets from a former Huawi employee, The Washington Post reported that Huawei Technologies Co. secretly helped the North Korean government build and maintain a commercial wireless network. Huawei partnered with Panada International Information Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese state-owned firm, on projects over the last eight years. Huawei says it "has no business presence" in North Korea.

What Ambassadors are saying "The news that Huawei was helping build North Korea's wireless network underscores that U.S. concerns about China and this company in particular are working against U.S. interests are very real and legitimate." -Ambassador Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank

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3. Argentina designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization What's going on Last Thursday, on the 25th anniversary of a 1994 bombing on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and froze the groups financial assets. Argentina blames Hezbollah for the 1994 bombing in which 85 people died and more than 300 injured and a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people. Hezbollah denies involvement.

What Ambassadors are saying ”The Argentine government has taken a long-awaited and principled step today in the international fight against global terror by including Hezbollah on its list of terrorist entities. For more than 35 years, Hezbollah has terrorized the globe, under the long arm of its patron Iran, and yet continues to be granted immunity and impunity by several nations and international organizations." -Ambassador Ronald Lauder, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria, The Jerusalem Post

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