ISLAMABAD: Ned Price, the United States Department of State spokesperson, has said the US wanted to continue to work with Pakistan in areas of “mutual interests,” including border security and counterterrorism.
Though the US has warmly congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on becoming Pakistan’s new prime minister last month, most analysts have said they do not expect Washington to seek a significant broadening of ties with the South Asian nation, but to remain mostly focused on security cooperation, especially on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.
Sharif’s predecessor Imran Khan, ousted from power in a no-confidence vote, was known for his anti-American sentiment and has widely said his ouster was set up as a “foreign conspiracy” by the United States.
The US has denied Khan’s accusations and said it has not interfered in Pakistani politics.
“We value our bilateral relationship,” Price said at a press briefing on Thursday. “We want to continue to work together in areas where we do have mutual interests with our Pakistani partners. That includes counterterrorism. That includes border security as well.”
Price also “strongly condemned” a militant attack on Karachi University last week, in which three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed. A separatist militant group claimed responsibility and said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber.
“A terrorist attack anywhere is an affront to humanity everywhere, but for a terrorist attack to take place at a university, or at a religious site, or at some of the locations we’ve seen recently – that is a true affront to mankind,” Price added.
US says wants to continue working with Pakistan on counterterrorism, border security
https://arab.news/j93tv
US says wants to continue working with Pakistan on counterterrorism, border security
- State department spokesperson condemns suicide attack on Karachi University
- US has warmly congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on becoming new Pakistani PM
No casualties as blast derails Jaffar Express train in Pakistan’s south
- Passengers were stranded and railway staffers were clearing the track after blast, official says
- In March 2025, separatist militants hijacked the same train with hundreds of passengers aboard
QUETTA: A blast hit Jaffar Express and derailed four carriages of the passenger train in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Monday, officials said, with no casualties reported.
The blast occurred at the Abad railway station when the Peshawar-bound train was on its way to Sindh’s Sukkur city from Quetta, according to Pakistan Railways’ Quetta Division controller Muhammad Kashif.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, but passenger trains have often been targeted by Baloch separatist outfits in the restive Balochistan province that borders Sindh.
“Four bogies of the train were derailed due to the intensity of the explosion,” Kashif told Arab News. “No casualty was reported in the latest attack on passenger train.”
Another railway employee, who was aboard the train and requested anonymity, said the train was heading toward Sukkur from Jacobabad when they heard the powerful explosion, which derailed power van among four bogies.
“A small piece of the railway track has been destroyed,” he said, adding that passengers were now standing outside the train and railway staffers were busy clearing the track.
In March last year, fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group had stormed Jaffar Express with hundreds of passengers on board and took them hostage. The military had rescued them after an hours-long operation that left 33 militants, 23 soldiers, three railway staff and five passengers dead.
The passenger train, which runs between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and Peshawar in the country’s northwest, had been targeted in at least four bomb attacks last year since the March hijacking, according to an Arab News tally.
Pakistan Railways says it has beefed up security arrangements for passenger trains in the province and increased the number of paramilitary troops on Jaffar Express since the hijacking in March, but militants have continued to target them in the restive region.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
