ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri has asserted that Pakistan wants to build a broad-based partnership with the United States (US), rather than transactional relations.
“We want to build long term, broad-based, comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnerships, to achieve the shared objective of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond,” the FO spokesman said while addressing a weekly press briefing in Islamabad today (Friday).
He pointed out that Pakistan and the US have a history of close cooperative relations that served the interests of both countries. “Both the countries have a convergence of views and interests on a number of key issues including the ongoing Afghan Peace Process,” he added.
“We both believe that there’s no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and we both want to see peace in Afghanistan,” reiterated the spokesperson. He said Pakistan played a key role in facilitating the US-Taliban agreement for peace in Afghanistan in February last year.
To a question on Extended Troika, the spokesman said Pakistan would continue to support it to bring lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan. “Pakistan will continue to engage in this platform to undertake collective efforts to expedite the peace process,” he added.
The Special Representatives of Pakistan, the United States, China and Russia met in Qatar’s capital of Doha on Wednesday to discuss the worsening situation in Afghanistan.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri further said the members of the Extended Troika discussed the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and explored ways of expediting intra-Afghan peace.
He mentioned that the delegations of Afghanistan led by head of the High Council for National Reconciliation Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and the Taliban led by Mullah Baradar also had interaction with the Extended Troika.
The FO Spokesperson said the Extended Troika countries broadly conveyed to the Afghan sides that there was a need for “urgent measures to reduce violence leading to a ceasefire”.
