The US has said that it values its important relationships with both India and Pakistan, and supports direct discussions between the two neighbours.

US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller made the remarks during a press briefing on Thursday while answering a query on recent exchanges that took place between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

“As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and character should be determined by those two countries, not by us,” Miller said.

The statement comes after PM Shehbaz took to social media platform X to felicitate his Indian counterpart Modi on a third straight election victory.

The Indian prime minister also responded to the message.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson was asked if Washington was considering providing weapons to Pakistan to effectively combat Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan terrorists.

Miller replied that Washington and Pakistan have a shared interest in combating threats to regional security.

Cooperation emphasised: Pak-US antiterrorism dialogue concludes

“We partner with Pakistan on security through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including several counterterrorism capacity-building programs, and we support a series of U.S.-Pakistan military-to-military engagements.”

The spokesperson further said that the US is in regular communication with the Pakistani leaders as a part of its partnership on CT issues, and “we will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through our annual counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations”.