Pakistan says it wants broad-based partnership with the US, not transactional ties: FO

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday said it wanted to build a broad-based partnership with the United States, rather than transactional relations.

“We want to build long term, broad-based, comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnerships, rather than having transactional relations,” the Foreign Office Spokesperson said at a weekly press briefing here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He was responding to a question regarding a statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan as saying, “the US was considering Pakistan good only to clear the mess in Afghanistan”.

“Pakistan had repeatedly stated that neither should Pakistan be looked at through the prism of another country nor should our relations be viewed narrowly,” he said.

The FO spokesperson said that Pakistan would take all such decisions and pursue policies that were in its national interest and contribute to peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.

He added that Pakistan and the United States had a history of close cooperative relations, adding that the cooperative relationship had served the interests of both countries.

“We have a convergence of views and interests on a number of key issues including the ongoing Afghan Peace Process. We both believe that there’s no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan,” he said.

The FO spokesperson maintained both Pakistan and the United States supported an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan through a process that was owned and led by the Afghan people themselves.

He stressed Pakistan played a key role in facilitating the US-Taliban agreement for peace in Afghanistan in February last year.

“We consider the United States a friend and want broad-based relations to achieve our shared objective of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond,” he said.

To a question on Extended Troika, he said Pakistan would continue to support it to bring lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan will continue to engage in this platform to undertake collective efforts to expedite the peace process,” he said.

The special representatives of Pakistan, the United States, China and Russia met in Qatar’s capital of Doha on Wednesday to discuss the worsening situation in Afghanistan.

Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said the members of the Extended Troika discussed the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and explored ways of expediting intra-Afghan peace.

He said talks were held for achieving an inclusive political settlement and bringing an end to the four decades-long conflicts in Afghanistan.

He mentioned that the delegations of Afghanistan led by the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation Dr Abdullah Abdullah and the Taliban led by Mullah Baradar also had interaction with the Extended Troika.

The FO spokesperson said the Extended Troika countries broadly conveyed to the Afghan sides that there was a need for “urgent measures to reduce violence leading to a ceasefire”.

It was stressed that there was no military solution to the Afghan conflict and the Afghan sides should put forward their peace plans on a priority basis so that progress was made towards a political roadmap, he added.

He mentioned that the need for all sides to respect human rights and not indulging in human rights violations was also stressed upon.