ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday has given a strongresponse over the telephone talk between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo andPM Imran Khan.
Pakistan has rejected the statement released by the US State Departmentregarding a phone call discussion between Prime Minister Imran Khan and USSecretary of State Mike Pompeo and said that it is “factually incorrect”.
FO Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal took to Twitter and said, “Pakistantakes exception to the factually incorrect statement issued by US StateDept regarding the phone call between PM Khan & Sec Pompeo. There was nomention at all in the conversation about terrorists operating in Pakistan.”
Furthermore, the FO spokesperson asked the US to “immediately correct” thestatement.
On the other hand, it was reported that the US State Department stands byits statement regarding the phone call between PM Imran and Mike Pompeo.
Earlier on Thursday, the US State Department released a statement thatsaid, “Secretary Michael R. Pompeo spoke with Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan and wished him success.”
The statement further said that “Secretary Pompeo expressed his willingnessto work with the new government towards a productive bilateralrelationship,” adding that “the US Secretary raised the importance ofPakistan taking decisive action against all terrorists operating inPakistan and its vital role in promoting the Afghan peace process”.
Having said that, Pompeo is expected to visit Pakistan in September alongwith Alice Wells to meet PM Imran.
It was reported that during his meeting with the Pakistani officials,Secretary Pompeo may “focus on two major issues: efforts to revive onceclose ties between the two states and Pakistan’s support for a US-led moveto jump-starting the Afghan peace process.”
It was further reported that Alice Wells, who heads the Bureau for SouthAsian Affairs at the State Department, may also accompany Pompeo.
Earlier, US officials had urged Pakistan to help end the Afghan war, addingthat recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan have not discouraged them fromnegotiating peace with some Taliban factions.
“What we’re seeing here is, there are some factions, some elements of theTaliban that clearly are not on board with peace. Others do want to havepeace negotiations and peace discussions,” said State DepartmentSpokesperson Heather Nauert while commenting on this week’s terroristattacks in Kabul that killed almost 50 people.
On Tuesday, a senior US official had reminded Pakistan that now was thetime to peacefully end the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan andencouraged Islamabad to play a leading role in this process.
Apparently, Washington believes that Pakistan still has enough “influenceover the Afghan Taliban to persuade them to join the peace process, andwants Islamabad to help establish a political setup in Kabul that wouldallow a peaceful withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan”.
In recent statements, US officials have also expressed the desire torestore their once-close ties with Pakistan.
On Saturday, the US State Department had said that it recognises andwelcomes the new Pakistani prime minister, dispelling the impressionthat Washington was not happy with Imran Khan’s election.