‘Absolutely not’, says State Dept official when asked if there is rift in US-Pakistan ties

WASHINGTON: The Department of State Thursday said there was absolutely no rift in ties with Islamabad post-US sanctions on the suppliers to Pakistan’s Ballistic Missile Program.

“Absolutely not. Pakistan continues to be one of our most important partners in the region,” said the US Department of State principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel during the daily press briefing here.

Asked if he thought there were any tensions in bilateral relations given that the Biden administration had sanctioned the suppliers to Pakistan’s Ballistic Missile Program and in reaction there were strong statements coming out from Islamabad, he said, “There continues to be a lot of cooperation that we have with the Government of Pakistan, especially in the security space, especially in the trade sector.”

He said Pakistan’s finance minister was in Washington over a week ago and held consultations with the State Department members. “This is a robust relationship and we look to continue strengthening it,” he concluded.

The Biden administration had imposed sanctions on the suppliers to Pakistan’s BMP.

Earlier this week, the State Department explained that the sanctions were made because those were entities based in the PRC and Belarus, which were proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and the means of their delivery.

The new sanctions were following the October 23rd designation of three other PRC entities who worked to supply Pakistan’s missile program.

The department spokesperson had also stressed, “We’re going to continue to disrupt and take actions against proliferation networks and concerning weapons of mass destruction procurement activities wherever they may occur.”