Friday 12 August 2011

US to continue to work towards improving Pakistan ties

WASHINGTON: The United States will continue to work towards improvement in its counter-terror cooperation and bilateral relationship with Pakistan, the State Department said.
“We continue to cooperate with Pakistan on counterterrorism and to try to work together as closely as we can,” said State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland.
She was asked to assess the level of US-Pakistan counterterrorism cooperation since the May 2 unilateral raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.
The spokesperson cited post-May 2 visits by senior US officials to Islamabad and said that these were aimed at improving the relationship.
“You saw all the visits that we have had to improve this relationship and strengthen it; from the Secretary’s visit, Admiral Mullen’s visit, to all of the working groups that we’ve had. So our efforts continue and we’re going to keep working at it.”
On the security situation in Afghanistan, Nuland noted that the US and its allies were working to build the Afghan forces so that they can assume responsibility for the safety of the Afghan people.
“The United States maintains a large military footprint working with our Afghan partners, our international partners. As we seek to draw that down, heading towards 2014, we are also seeking to build up Afghan capacity, both military and police, so that the security situation will enable strong development efforts and strong political and economic strengthening. That’s our goal.”

No comments:

Post a Comment