US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his visit to the country explained his earlier statement with regard to possible bailout package of International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Pakistan.
This was stated by Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Thursday following an in-camera briefing to the committee given by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Pakistan's foreign policy and the recent visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Mushahid said that the foreign minister and foreign secretary in the detailed briefing to the committee stated that during the talks with the US delegation, Secretary Pompeo explained his statement with regard to IMF bailout package for Pakistan.
"We were told that Secretary Pompeo clarified his statement with regard to IMF's possible package linking it with Chinese loans...that he [Pompeo] explained that he never gave such a statement and that it [IMF bailout] has nothing to do with Chinese loans," Mushahid said while quoting from the briefing given to the committee.
Earlier on July 30, 2018 in an interview with an American television in Washington, Pompeo said the United States looked forward to engagement with the government of Pakistan, but said there was "no rationale" for a bailout that pays off Chinese loans to Pakistan.
"Make no mistake. We will be watching what the IMF does," Pompeo had said. "There's no rationale for IMF tax dollars, and associated with that American dollars that are part of the IMF funding, for those to go to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself," Pompeo said.
Mushahid further said that the committee was informed that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a national project and the government is committed to proactively pursuing all the projects under the CPEC.
He said that the foreign minister informed the committee that there was "a slight change" in the US approach towards Pakistan, adding that the Americans have now acknowledged that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and "they have now realized that it needs a politically negotiated solution to the conflict."
For that negotiation, he said that the US wants Pakistan to play its role and facilitate the talks with the Taliban for which Pakistan expressed its readiness to facilitate the talks as it is in the best interests of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He further said that Secretary Pompeo also conveyed that the US does not want to prolong its presence in Afghanistan. He said that the committee was further informed that Pakistan has sought the US side to share with it its future vision for Afghanistan.
For that, he said that the next round of talks with be held in Washington when Foreign Minister Qureshi will be traveling to lead Pakistan's delegation to the UN General Assembly session in New York.
He further said that the committee members referred to the US State Department readout issued at the conclusion of the visit in which it was stated that Secretary Pompeo conveyed the need for Pakistan to take sustained and decisive measures against terrorists and militants threatening regional peace and stability. On this, he said that the committee was informed that the US side was conveyed that Pakistan has successfully fought the war against terrorists and both Pakistan and the US have shared interests to defeat the terrorists.
Furthermore, he said that the committee desired that Pakistan should play a mediatory role between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as both are the brotherly countries. He further said that the committee also sought that Foreign Office should be the "center of gravity" of the country's foreign policy on which the foreign minister expressed desire that Parliament should provide guidelines for the country's foreign policy.