WASHINGTON: Pakistan and the United States have shared interests of peace and stability in Afghanistan, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing Wednesday.
The statement from the State Department that Pakistan is an important partner on various fronts came after a couple of hard-hitting statements from the Pakistani leadership slamming the US for pushing in the terror war.
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“Pakistan has been a helpful and constructive partner when it comes to Afghanistan and our collective efforts to bring about some semblance of peace and security there,” the spokesperson added.
Price said the interests of the United States and Pakistan go well beyond that and include broader counterterrorism interests and the people-to-people ties that unite our two countries.
He said all of Afghanistan’s neighbours need to play a constructive role in helping bring durable political settlement as well as a comprehensive ceasefire.
He said the United States is going to work very closely to ensure that Afghanistan’s neighbours play a constructive role in Afghanistan.
‘Pakistan can partner with US for peace, not for conflict’
Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had delivered a long address to the National Assembly during which he stressed that Pakistan could partner with the United States in peace, but never again for conflict.
“The US was defeated in Afghanistan and they tried to shift the blame of their defeat on us,” PM Imran Khan had said.
The prime minister had said the Afghanis were the brothers of Pakistanis, and that Islamabad knew them better than Washington. “We have decided to not comprise on the country’s sovereignty.”
The premier had said Pakistan chose to aid America in the war against terror “but after that, we captured our own people and sent them to Guantanamo Bay — and former president Pervez Musharraf admitted this”.
PM Imran Khan had said at the time of the war on terror, Pakistanis were unable to differentiate between their friends and enemies. “Does a country launch an attack on its ally?” he asked.
The premier said that the government at that time — during the war on terror — “did not have the courage to say no to the US and kept on lying to the people”.
“We must understand that when a nation does not respect itself, it is not respected by the world […] we only want peace to prevail in Afghanistan, and that is in our best interest.”
