ISLAMABAD: US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday Washington valued its long standing cooperation with Pakistan and its elected government was the “primary interlocutor” in bilateral ties.
Price’s remarks came in response to a question on a recent visit to the US by Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, where he met US defense secretary General Lloyd James Austin III (Retired), national security adviser Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan, and deputy secretary of state Wendy Ruth Sherman.
The visit was widely discussed in Pakistani media, particularly why the chief had embarked on an extensive, week-long US trip just weeks before he retires at the end of November.
Responding to a question about whether Bajwa discussed “the chaotic political situation of Pakistan with the American administration and the possible appointment of a new army chief,” Price said he would not give more details of Bajwa’s visit beyond what had already been shared with the media.
“We have a number of shared interests with our Pakistani partners. There are security interests, there are economic interests, there are people-to-people ties and connections as well, but I’m just not going to speak to it,” the spokesperson said. “Of course, Pakistan has a civilian government that is democratically elected, and that is our primary interlocutor.”
Outlining areas where Pakistan US relations are aligned, Price listed stability and the future of Afghanistan and the Afghan people, as well as the security challenges that the region faced.
“We meet with and speak with them regularly on a range of issues. But as is standard practice, we don’t delve into the details of those engagements always,” Price said.
Last month, the Pentagon announced that the US State Department had approved the potential sale of F-16 aircraft sustainment and related equipment to Pakistan in a deal valued at up to $450 million. The State Department subsequently said the equipment would sustain Pakistan’s “capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats.”
The US-built F-16 aircraft are a critical part of the military arsenal of Pakistan, whose arch-rival India worries that the fleet could be used against it by its neighbor.
Officially for years allies in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and the United States have had a complicated relationship, bound by Washington’s dependence on Pakistan to supply its troops in Afghanistan but plagued by accusations Islamabad was playing a double game and militants that targetted American troops in Afghanistan were allowed to shelter on Pakistani soil.
Islamabad has long denied this.