WASHINGTON: The United States has a “healthy military-to-military relationship” with Pakistani armed forces and it expects to continue that relationship, the Pentagon said days after Shehbaz Sharif took over as prime minister.
“We recognize that Pakistan plays a key role in the region,” Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby said in response to a question from an Indian journalist about the change of government in Pakistan after a political crisis during which former prime minister Imran Khan blamed the United States for his ouster.
Kirby began his response by saying he was not going to comment about domestic politics inside Pakistan. He said that the US had shared interests with Pakistan with respect to security and stability in “that part of the world”.
The Pentagon spokesman added, “We recognize that Pakistan and the Pakistani people are, themselves, victims of terrorist attacks inside their own country. We recognize that we have shared interests with Pakistan with respect to security and stability in that part of the world”.
“And we do have a healthy military-to-military relationship with Pakistani armed forces. And we have every expectation that that will be able to continue to be the case.”
On Monday, soon after Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said a democratic Pakistan was critical to US interests.
“We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional democratic principles, we don’t support one political party over another,” she told a press briefing at the White House.
