WASHINGTON: A senior US official has reassured Islamabad that despite occasional friction, the United States and Pakistan maintain a stable and extensive relationship.
Speaking during a mango party hosted at the Pakistan Embassy, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Horst said “Like any long-standing relationship, there’s occasional friction.” “However, the US-Pakistan relationship is currently in its best state in years. We have achieved stability and broadened our engagement in ways not seen in many years.”
The US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary has said relations with Pakistan were in the “best place” they had been in years, days after a US congressional resolution calling for a probe into alleged election irregularities drew a strong reaction from Islamabad.
Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have just started to warm after some years of frosty relations, mostly due to concerns about Pakistan’s alleged support of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan has always denies this support.
Relations strained further under the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, who ruled from 2018-22 and antagonized Washington throughout his tenure, welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and later accusing Washington of being behind his ouster from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022. Washington has dismissed the accusation.
PM Shehbaz Sharif, now in his second term as premier since Khan’s ouster, has tried to mend ties but analysts widely believe the United States is not seeking a significant broadening of ties with Islamabad in the near future but will remain mostly focused on security cooperation, especially on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.
“I just want to note that the US-Pakistan relationship is in the best place it’s been in years, in part, in large part to what Ambassador Masood Khan has done to represent Pakistan and to build bridges between Islamabad and Washington.”
Horst said at a farewell dinner for the outgoing Pakistani envoy. “You should know you depart Washington leaving the relationship between Pakistan and the US better than when you came and the strongest it has been in a long time.”
The two countries had held “new dialogues” and identified new areas of cooperation on trade, health, energy and climate in recent years, Horst said.
“And of all that is because you Masood have been an extraordinarily representative of the Pakistani people and the government … And like any long-standing relationship, there is always a little bit of friction at times but because of you we know how we can talk through this through a framework.”
Earlier, Pakistan’s Foreign Office confirmed the appointment of senior bureaucrat Rizwan Saeed Sheikh as the country’s new ambassador to the US.
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