Imran’s allegations of ‘conspiracy’ untrue: US

WASHINGTON: The US has once again rejected PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan’s allegations that his government was ousted through any American conspiracy and called the claims baseless.

Responding to a related question in an interview with Geo/The News, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s aide Derek Chollet maintained that there was nothing to the allegations. “Those [allegations] were untrue,” he said, adding that the US wanted to work with Pakistan no matter which party was in power.

“What we want to stay focused on is where we are going in the US-Pakistan relationship, to reflect on all that we have achieved in 75 years but also all that we must achieve in the coming 75 years,” he said.

Acknowledging Pakistan’s contribution to the counter terrorism efforts, he said the US-Pakistan military ties were stronger and the Biden administration was also interested in diversifying the bilateral relationship even further.

Pakistan is a critically important country to the US, he further said, adding that the US was committed to find ways that could deepen the partnership and achieve shared interests and goals.

Mr Chollet, however, avoided to comment if Pakistan was helping the US keep up its over-the-horizon capabilities in the region. Along with that he also did not make any remarks about the recent drone strike in Afghanistan that killed Al-Qaeda leader, Aiman al-Zawahri.

He also highlighted US efforts to help Pakistan in the ongoing flood disaster. The US has already announced 30 million dollars in assistance for flood-relief while hinting that it will work with the UN to raise 160 million dollars.

“These horrific floods are something that we have not seen since 2010,” he said. “It is a climate cataclysm that we are seeing in Pakistan. It is just devastating.” He underlined that the US was doing all that could be done to help Pakistan in its moment of need.

Responding to a question about the US concerns over Pakistan-China ties especially related to CPEC, he said that the US had concerns about China globally, but at the same time the US was not asking countries to choose between the US and China.

“We just want countries to be able to have a choice,” he said. The United States strongly valued its relationship with Pakistan and it was important to take a step back and think about the relationship in its totality, he said.

“The important work we do together across all - security, economics, health, business ties and people to people ties that we have.” “There are a lot of challenges out there - in the region and around the world but there’s also a lot we can do together,” he added.

He also said that the U.S. relations with India or Pakistan stood on their own and ‘we have much that we share with both countries.’ “We do have honest differences with both countries. What matters is how we work through those differences,” he said, adding, “Our perspective in terms of working with Pakistan is we are going to work through those differences in the spirit of partnership, and cooperation and try to keep an eye on all that we share.”