Washington DC October 18 2022: The United States is confident of Pakistan’s commitment and its ability to secure its nuclear assets says US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson.
The statement came shortly after a meeting on Monday between Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, and the State Department Counselor, Derek Chollet, who serves as a senior policy advisor to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a press release of the Pakistani embassy.
“The U.S. has always viewed a secure and prosperous Pakistan as critical to U.S. interests,” State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said while responding to a question at the daily news briefing.
He said that the two countries “enjoy a strong partnership” and that “the United States valued its longstanding cooperation with Pakistan.”
The spokesperson recalled the recent high-level visits on both sides, including the trip to the US by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and the visits of Conounselor Chollet and USAID Administrator Samantha Power to Pakistan.
“This is a relationship we view as important and it’s something that we are really deeply engaged on,” the spokesperson added.
On a question of U.S. ambassador summoned by Pakistan authorities the US State Department spokesperson said that “the U.S. has always viewed a secure and prosperous Pakistan as critical to U.S. interests. And more broadly, the U.S. values our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan. We enjoy a strong partnership. The – as you know, the foreign minister was in town and had a bilateral meeting with the Secretary not too long ago. Counselor Derek Chollet had the opportunity to visit Karachi and Islamabad not too long ago, I think, on the tail end of the summer, as did USAID Administrator Sam Power. So this is a relationship we view as important, and it’s something that we’re going to continue to remain deeply engaged on. And as it relates to the ambassador, we regularly meet with officials at the foreign ministry, but I don’t have anything specific to read out.”
