ISLAMABAD: United States President Joe Biden wanted to see a strong and prosperous Pakistan, said a White House official Saturday after the administration in Islamabad sharply reacted to one of the American leader's recent comments in which he questioned the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
The US president described Pakistan as "one of the most dangerous nations in the world" at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Reception this week while adding that its nuclear weapons were "without any cohesion."
In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif dismissed his comments as "factually incorrect and misleading while pointing out that his country had demonstrated responsible stewardship of its nuclear program.
"The president views a secure and prosperous Pakistan as critical to US interests," the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was quoted by Dawn newspaper in a report filed from Washington.
The publication also quoted a Pakistan scholar in the US who described Biden's comment as "strange," saying he was not sure why he made it in the first place.
"Strange comment," said Michael Kugelman who works with the Wilson Center. "Not the type of thing senior US officials typically say publicly as much as they used to."
As Biden's comment was widely discussed in Pakistan, foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Saturday he had discussed the matter with the prime minister and summoned the US envoy, Donald Blome, for an official demarche.
Pakistan and the US have worked with each other in a number of fields since the former's independence in August 1947, though there were phases when their relations also came under tremendous strain during these years.
