ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is aiming stable ties with the United States as Washington has started getting warmer towards Islamabad.
Yesterday, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said that the US wanted to see a prosperous and stable Pakistan.
He contended that a prosperous and stable Pakistan was in the interests of US-Pakistan relations. “We are engaged with Pakistan directly on several issues but a statement cannot be given on every diplomatic contact,” he added.
Patel further said: “We engage directly with our Pakistani partners on the issues that are of importance to the United States and are of importance to broader regional security and stability.” Pakistani diplomats told The Nation yesterday that efforts were being made to stabilize the ties with the US and improve the confidence level. “The relationship (with the US) is very old. We have worked together for long. The misunderstanding issue has always been annoying. We are trying to fix this,” said one diplomat. Another senior diplomat said both Pakistan and the US needed each other and were interested in strengthening the partnership. “The signals from the US recently have been positive. We need to capitalize on this,” he said. This week, Pakistan’ s Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan urged solidarity among diaspora for better Pakistan-US relations. Addressing a gathering of Pakistani-American community at Pakistan Farm House in Maryland, he said diaspora was making Pakistan proud with their successes. Masood Khan said the community could serve as a bridge between Pakistan and the US and hailed the valuable contributions being made by Pakistani diaspora in a range of business and economic activities. On the Pak-US relations, he said that efforts were afoot to further strengthen Pakistan-US relations and to promote cooperation in all possible areas of mutual interest.
