WASHINGTON
The United States of America has said that a prosperous and strong, democratic Pakistan is critical to US interests. At a daily press briefing in Washington, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in the interest of the Pakistan-US relations, the United States does not have a favorite candidate or a favorite political party in Pakistan.
He said Pakistan continued to be an important partner of the US in the region – an important trade partner, an important security partner – and we continue to engage with our Pakistani counterparts on a number of issues.
Replying to a question regarding current unrest in Pakistan, he said we are monitoring the situation in Pakistan closely, and as the US has said before, we do not have a favored candidate or a favored political party, not just in Pakistan but as it relates to any government system around the world.
“What our interest is a safe and secure, prosperous Pakistan. That is in the interest of the US-Pakistan relations, and we call for the respect of democratic principles and the rule of law around the world,” he said.
Replying to a question regarding shutting down social media platforms in Pakistan, he said that that the issues of human rights and press freedom were taken up with Pakistan.
Replying to yet another question, he said that we are looking to continue to strengthen economic ties between our two countries by expanding private sector trade and investment, and there’s also an important security collaboration and areas of collaboration on renewable energy, addressing the climate crisis, increasing agricultural trade, and a number of areas.
“On some of these areas, such as press freedom, human rights, things of that nature, we have consistently raised these issues with our counterparts not just in Pakistan but in other countries where we have a perspective to offer on that,” Patel said remarked.
“That’s what we mean by a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan that is critical to US interests.”
