WASHINGTON – US State Department said Washington sought a strongpartnership with Islamabad to counter global and regional terrorism, sayingit also has confidence in Pakistan’s ability to defend its nuclear assets.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel makes another clarification asPakistan summoned the US envoy after President Joe Biden termed the SouthAsian country ‘dangerous nation’ in the world and questioned its nuclearweapons safety protocols.
Patel said the US always viewed a secure and prosperous Pakistan ascritical to its interests and admitted that Pakistan is among the fewcountries that were hit hard by terrorism.
He mentioned that the terror outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) posesa serious threat to the region, and pledged a strong partnership withPakistan to curb terrorism. US has a shared interest in combating threatsto regional instability and regional security like the TTP, thespokesperson said.
Washington also expected Islamabad to take action against global andregional terrorist organizations. We look forward to the cooperativeefforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats, thestatement said.
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The spokesman however avoided commenting on the recent meeting ofPakistan’s envoy at the State Department. He mentioned that meetups arepart of standard protocol between the two sides, saying we don’t comment onthe specifics and don’t get into private diplomatic engagements.
The US continued to back-track from Joe Biden’s controversial position asboth sides attempted not to thwart recent efforts to reset ties.
Pakistan earlier summoned the US ambassador over Biden’s comments andformally protested to its strategic partner over controversial remarksquestioning the safety of Islamabad’s nuclear weapons.
