White House hopes Trump will hire foreign service experts

 Pak-US relationship is complicated; can’t speak to accuracy or to the tone of Trump-Nawaz phone call; Pakistan will certainly be one of places for Trump to visit

WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday declared that relations between Pakistan and the US had been complicated albeit important. 

"The US relationship with Pakistan is one that's quite complicated, particularly when you consider our overlapping national security interests," said the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest while speaking at the daily briefing here.

"The relations between our two countries, particularly over the last eight years, have not been smooth -- consistently smooth, particularly in the aftermath of the raid on the Pakistani soil that President Obama ordered to take Osama bin Laden off the battlefield," said Earnest.

He clarified that the relationship between the two countries had been "obviously important," emphasizing that "there have been areas where the US and Pakistan have been able to effectively coordinate our efforts." 

Commenting on the readout of the telephonic conversation between president-elect Donald Trump and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif publicised by the Government of Pakistan, Earnest said he could notspeak to accuracy or to the tone of the phone call. 

He, however, added that every president, regardless of which party they were in, benefited enormously from the expertise and services of thousands of patriotic Americans at the State Department. 

"These are men and women -- some of them are career foreign service officers.  Some of them are just career civil servants.  But these are individuals who are committed and passionate about serving our country and representing our country overseas, regardless of who the president is." 

Earnest further said President Obama benefited from it, hoping that Trump would do the same.  Answering another question, the press secretary revealed that at one point President Obama expressed his desire to visit Pakistan, but then decided otherwise.

"For a variety of reasons, some of them relating to the complicated relationship between our two countries at certain times over the last eight years, President Obama was not able to realise that ambition."

He also acknowledged the fact that such visits send a powerful message to the people of a country when the US president goes to visit. “That's true whether it's some of our closest allies, or that's also true if it's a country like Pakistan, with whom our relationship is somewhat more complicated." "Ultimately, when President Trump begins planning his overseas travel, he'll have a range of places to consider, and Pakistan would certainly be one of them," he concluded.