Pakistan important partner in various fronts: US State Dept
Last updated on: 08 July,2021 07:15 pm
Afghanistan’s neighbors need to play constructive role in helping to bring political settlement
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The United States on Thursday said that Pakistan is an important partner in various fronts and both the countries have shared interests in peace and stability in Afghanistan.
During the weekly press briefing, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price while replying to a query about Pakistan’s influence in bringing the Afghan Taliban, at this crucial juncture, to the table in Doha said that Pakistan and the US have shared interests, adding that Pakistan has been helpful when it comes to this shared interest in Afghanistan.
The spokesman said 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 neighbors need to play a constructive role in helping to 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 neighbors play constructive role in Afghanistan.
In an interview last month, PM Imran Khan had said that Pakistan will absolutely not allow United States to use its soil for operations in Afghanistan.
The premier said that he will not allow the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use bases on Pakistan’s soil for cross-border missions after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan.
Later in an op-ed for Washington Post, Pakistan is ready to be a partner for peace in Afghanistan as long as the government in power “enjoys the confidence of the Afghan people”.
Khan stated that Pakistan cannot afford to host US bases in the ongoing war because that will again make Pakistan a target “for revenge by terrorists”.
“If Pakistan were to agree to host US bases, from which to bomb Afghanistan, and an Afghan civil war ensued, Pakistan would be targeted for revenge by terrorists again. We simply cannot afford this. We have already paid too heavy a price,” he wrote.
He also wrote: “Our countries have the same interest in that long-suffering country: a political settlement, stability, economic development and the denial of any haven for terrorists.”