US backs direct Pakistan-India talks: State Dept

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday reiterated that it supports direct engagement between India and Pakistan but will not tell them how to conduct those discussions.

State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said this in response to a question seeking his comments after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for securing a third term in office earlier this month.

The diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated significantly since August 5, 2019, when New Delhi revoked the special constitutional status of IIOJK.

The two nuclear-armed neighbors expelled each other’s ambassadors and limited bilateral trade relations.

“We value our important relationships with both India and Pakistan,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a media briefing in Washington.

“As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and character should be determined by those two countries, not by us,” he added.

On terrorism, the State Department spokesperson said the US and Pakistan had a shared interest in combating threats to regional security.

“The United States and Pakistan have a shared interest in combating threats to regional security,” he said. “We partner with Pakistan on security through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including several counterterrorism capacity building programs, and we support a series of US-Pakistan military-to-military engagements.”

“We are in regular communication with the Pakistani leaders as a part of our partnership on CT [counterterrorism] issues, and we will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through our annual counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations,” he added.

from ARY NEWS https://ift.tt/3JEVdYu