Pak-US relations reset without ‘do more’ talk

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday relations between Pakistan and the United States had now been “reset” and there was no talk about “doing more” during the recent meeting between Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump in Washington.

“Nothing happened such as the US asking Pakistan to ‘do more’. Instead, the talks focused on the interests of each side,” Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said at a weekly press briefing.

He said Pakistan wanted to move forward keeping in view its own interests. “They [the US] talked about their interests and we talked about ours. This is called the diplomatic space,” he said when asked if the US pressurised Pakistan for putting in more effort on issues of its concern. Asked whether the release of pending amount of Coalition Support Fund came under discussion, he said the two leaders agreed on the intent of close collaboration on multiple matters. “Leaders meet to decide the intent [of bilateral relations], whereas the mechanism is sorted out later, which we will do in this case too,” he said.

On Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement in joint press interaction with President Trump that Pakistan had tipped off the US on hiding of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, the spokesman said: “We had given only the initial lead and we stand by it”.

On what next following the mediation offer by President Trump on Kashmir, he said India’s mature approach was the most required step at the moment. “Pakistan’s peace-based and dialogue-based approach remains the same to resolve the Kashmir dispute. It’s India which has to show maturity,” he added.

About next meeting on operationalisation of Kartarpur Corridor, Dr Faisal said Pakistan was ready and awaiting response from India on finalisation of dates.