Washington: The State Department on Thursday reiterated its support for direct talks between Pakistan and India, but the scope of the talks should be determined by the two neighboring countries, not the United States.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in response to questions about recent exchanges between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi about his election for a third term as prime minister.
As we have said, we support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and nature should be determined by the two countries, not us,” Miller said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz on June 10 congratulated Modi on his swearing in as the Prime Minister of India. Modi responded by thanking Shehbaz.
Shehbaz’s brother and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also congratulated the Indian Prime Minister.
“The people of India have always stood for peace, security and progressive ideas,” the Indian Prime Minister said in his reply.
“Improving the well-being and safety of our people will be a priority,” he said.
terrorism
Meanwhile, the State Department spokesperson said in a press conference that the United States and Pakistan share a common interest in countering threats to regional security.
“We are engaged in security cooperation with Pakistan through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including several counterterrorism capacity-building programs, and we support US-Pakistan military-to-military relations.”
He was asked what Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, said about Pakistan’s need for modern American weapons to fight the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), because the terrorist outfit “used American weapons against Pakistani forces that were abandoned by US forces. . Afghanistan”.
“As part of our cooperation on CT issues, we are in regular contact with Pakistani leaders and will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through annual counter-terrorism talks and other bilateral consultations,” said Miller.
