ISLAMABAD – US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South andCentral Asian Affairs Ambassador Alice Wells on Tuesday said the UnitedStates respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan andwould never support terrorist proxies or separatism against it.
She was responding to a question regarding India using Afghan soil tocreate insurgency in Pakistan, at a media interaction held here at the USEmbassy.
Ambassador Wells, who arrived here Monday on a two-day visit, during herstay met key government officials including finance adviser, foreignsecretary, interior secretary and the army chief to discuss bilateralagenda and regional security including joint efforts to advance Afghanpeace process.
When sought comments on reports of Indian funding to Pashtun TahaffuzMovement, Ambassador Wells said the US did not support any separatist orirredentist movement.
“It is critical that the nations of this region respect each other and workto achieve peace and economic growth,” she said.
Under the Financial Action Task Force plan, she expressed hope thatPakistan would make efforts to meet the specific requirements includingidentification of high-risk threats in society and denying them the abilityto fund-raise and organise.
She said the US had been actively working with Pakistan to combatterrorism, whether it was Al-Qaeda or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. “Anyterrorist attacking Pakistan is an enemy of ours. We share very strongcounter-terrorism objective in defeating extremist forces,” she stressed.
On implementation of National Action Plan (NAP), she said the steps briefedby the Pakistan government to the
diplomatic community were positive regarding the detention of leaders ofproscribed groups and seizure of assets. “We certainly believe what peacebrings economic growth and stability, which conforms with the PrimeMinister’s agenda of Naya Pakistan aspiring development,” she said.
She welcomed PM Imran Khan’s statements underscoring his government’scommitment to moving away from non-state actors through forging the NAP andsaid “Pakistan’s future course requires that the state itself controls allmeans of force.”
On UNSC’s deadlock on proscribing Maulana Masood Azhar following China’sveto, she said the US believed that designation of terrorist should betechnical in nature and added that “We encourage the parties to moveforward and reaffirm the centrality of UN’s role in designating terrorists.”
On US’ concerns on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), AmbassadorWells said the US welcomed the development, however believed that theinfrastructure and investment needed to meet international standard, withtransparency and sustainability.
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She said the apprehensions were not Pakistan-specific as the US had alsoexpressed voice with regard to other countries involved in the Belt andRoad Initiative.
Ambassador Wells, who accompanied US Special Representative on AfghanistanPeace Zalmay Khalilzad during his meetings with officials in Islamabad,said Pakistan would benefit more than any other country if peace comes tothis region.
She welcomed the support of government of Pakistan for bringing Afghanstogether for peace dialogue, adding that the Prime Minister’s recent strongstatement in support of reduction of violence in Afghanistan wasencouraging.
To a question on India’s lukewarm response to Pakistan’s peace efforts,Wells said regional disputes hindered the ability of SAARC (South AsianAssociation for Regional Cooperation) to play an effective role in region’sprosperity and growth.
The US welcomes Prime Minister Imran Khan’s open desire for betterrelations with India, she added.
On Kashmir issue, she said, “We support efforts by Pakistan and India, butit is up to them to pace up discussions.”
Ambassador Wells rejected the impression of receding Pak-US trade ties andsaid, “Our trade relationship is extremely healthy as we remain Pakistan’slargest export market with bilateral trade reached at highest level withUS6.6 billion US and Pakistani exports increased by four percent.”
She termed freedom of expression as vital part of democracy, quotingexample of her country where press and activists could express opinionfreely as a check on abuse of power and a mirror that can be held up togovernment practices.
Monitoring Desk adds: US special representative for Afghanistanreconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has concluded two days of officialdiscussions in Pakistan on how to advance the Afghan peace process.“Ambassador Khalilzad requested and received support for the need toaccelerate intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations as well as a reduction inviolence, concrete steps necessary for a comprehensive settlement,” the USembassy noted Tuesday in a post-visit statement.
