ISLAMABAD: Masood Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, held a meeting with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday during which the two briefly discussed moving “US-Pakistan ties forward,” the Pakistani embassy in the US said.
US-Pakistani ties deteriorated in the past few years under former prime minister Imran Khan, who was a strident opponent of America’s war on terror and Pakistan’s partnership in that war with Washington.
Ousted in a no-confidence vote in April this year, Khan accused the US administration of colluding with the opposition to remove him from power — a claim Washington and the new Pakistani government deny.
Pakistan’s new government has indicated it was seeking new engagement with the US.
The Pakistani embassy in the US said Ambassador Khan visited the White House to meet and greet Biden for an official photograph, an established tradition for newly appointed envoys in Washington DC.
“During the ceremony, the US President and the Ambassador had a brief conversation on building a strong basis for moving the US-Pakistan ties forward,” the Pakistani embassy in the US said in a statement.
The embassy said 46 other ambassadors were also present on the occasion, most of whom had been unable to meet the US president for over a year due to the coronavirus restrictions.
Khan arrived in Washington on March 25. His credentials were formally accepted by Biden on April 22, the embassy said.
“The official photograph completes all formalities,” it added.
Earlier this week, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome said Washington wanted to “keep engaging across all levels of Pakistani society.”
