ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has said that it has considered the United States a friend and wants broad-based relations with it to achieve the shared objective of peace and prosperity in the region.
This was said by the Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri during his weekly press briefing on Friday. He answered questions on Pakistan’s response to the escalating situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s relations with the US.
“Pakistan and the United States have a history of close cooperative relations. This cooperative relationship has served the interests of both the countries,” he said.
He pointed out that both the countries have convergence of views and interests on a number of key issues including the ongoing Afghan Peace Process. We both believe that there’s no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and we both want to see peace in Afghanistan.
Chaudhri said Pakistan played an instrumental role in bringing about the peace agreement between the Taliban and the US in Doha last year.
He continued that Pakistan and the United States support an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan through a process that is owned and led by the Afghans themselves.
Chaudhri said neither should Pakistan “be looked at through the prism of another country nor should our relations be viewed narrowly”.
Pakistan will take all such decisions and pursue policies that are in our national interest and contribute to peace and prosperity in the region and beyond, said the FO spokesman.
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