US looking for new friends in region: Qureshi

WASHINGTON: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday that Pakistan hopes to be friends with the United States while exercising its option to cultivate relations with China and other states.

"We want the US to be friends with Pakistan. We recognise that the US is an important global power, and they will continue to be a military, technological and economic power in the foreseeable future," the foreign minister said in an interview to Aljazeera.

Qureshi, however, immediately added, "They (US) are looking at different options, they are looking at new friends in the region. We do have friends who have been consistent and very valuable. China is one of them."

The foreign minister said that the other states recognise how important and how strategically located Pakistan is. "So, we are not alone and everyone has options," he said.

On the question of bilateral relations with India, the foreign minister said that war is no option between the nuclear-armed states. "Two neighbours have outstanding issues and are atomic powers. How do you fix things? War is no option. There is no military solution. The only solution is dialogue."

Qureshi said that the Pakistani state policy towards India is on the lines of Prime Minister Imran Khan's first public address on July 26, in which he said, "You take one step towards peace, we will take two."