ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has responded over the issue of military aid suspension by United States.
He said on Sunday that the matter would be taken up during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s upcoming visit to the country.
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Qureshi clarified that the money blocked by the US military was part of reimbursement for the loss of lives and financial losses Pakistan suffered while leading the fight against terrorism.
“And this [deal] was done even before this government came into being,” he added.
Pompeo and the top US military officer, General Joseph Dunford, are scheduled to visit Islamabad on September 5.
“We will sit and discuss this with him [Pompeo]. We will try to improve bilateral ties between the two countries. We will listen to him and present our point of view to him as well,” said the foreign minister.
Blaming the previous PML-N government of the current state of bilateral ties with the US, Qureshi said, “The last government had no engagement, no dialogue [with the US administration] … in fact there was an almost total breakdown of talks. But we will try to revive the talks.”