US says Pakistan is ‘an important partner’ on various fronts

At the State Department, its spokesperson Ned Price called Pakistan “an important partner” on various fronts and said that both countries shared interests for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has been helpful in — recently when it comes to this shared interest. Our shared interests go well beyond that: broader counterterrorism interests as well, not to mention the people-to-people ties that unite our two countries,” Price said in response to a question at the daily press briefing.

The United States, he said, was going to work very closely to ensure that Afghanistan’s neighbours play a constructive role in promoting a peaceful settlement there.

In his remarks at the USIP, which was moderated by former US ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson, the ambassador said that the “Extended Troika” declarations issued by Pakistan, China, Russia and the US could serve as a template for coordinated messaging by the key regional and international stakeholders on the need for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan.

Peace in Afghanistan is achievable and the process is a shared responsibility, he said.

Commenting on Islamabad’s focus on geo-economics, he said the government wanted to leverage the country’s location and connectivity infrastructure to promote regional integration and growth.

Khan said that the United States remained the largest market for Pakistan’s exports, and underlined Islamabad’s desire to enhance bilateral cooperation in energy, agriculture, and technology sectors. Pakistan, he said, is well-placed in the region to be an important part of the global supply chain.

On India-Pakistan ties, Khan said that Prime Minister Imran Khan desired a working relationship with India but the Bharatiya Janata Party government of Prime Minister Modi had pursued a radical and anti-Pakistan agenda that has made the normalisation of ties difficult for Pakistan.

On Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, he said that the dispute should be resolved as per the wishes of the people as promised to them by the international community through the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Meanwhile, with the United States nearing the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, an inclusive political approach in the war-battered country will best serve the shared interests of both Islamabad and Washington in the region, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan has said.

Speaking at the United States Institute of Peace, where he was invited for a discussion on “The Next Chapter in Pakistan-US Relations” on Wednesday, Khan cited Afghanistan as an area of convergence between Islamabad and Washington as both sides wanted to see a peaceful settlement in the country.

“This is why it was important to invest in the Afghan peace process at this critical time,” Khan said.