The United States has declared that a strong, secure, prosperous and democratic Pakistan is critical to American interests and Washington will continue to engage Islamabad on all issues. This was stated by US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel while briefing the newsmen in Washington on Thursday. Vedant Patel said that a prosperous, strong and democratic Pakistan is critical to the US interests. He said that 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.

Responding to a question regarding current unrest in Pakistan, Patel said they were monitoring the situation in Pakistan closely, and as the US has said before, they do not have a favoured candidate or a favoured political party, not just in Pakistan but as it relates to any government system around the world. He said that a safe and secure, prosperous Pakistan is in the interest of the US and they called for the respect of democratic principles and the rule of law around the world.

Replying to a question regarding shutting down social media platforms in Pakistan, the State Department spokesman said that the issues of human rights and press freedom were taken up with Pakistan. Replying to yet another query, Patel said that they were looking to continue to strengthen economic ties between their 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.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP