WASHINGTON: The Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said that Pakistan would continue to make efforts to build bilateral relationship with the United States on the already existing mutually beneficial elements.
“We would continue to work for a relationship based on mutual respect and mutuality of interests”, Ishaq Dar said while talking to the US Acting Deputy Secretary of State Tom Shannon at Pakistan Embassy in Washington.
Reiterating Pakistan’s strong resolve to combat terrorism and extremism in the Country, the finance minister briefed the US acting deputy secretary about Pakistan’s sustained counter terror operations all over Pakistan.
Ishaq Dar said that we are conducting these security operations with the unwavering belief that ridding the society of the scourge of terrorists and extremists is in Pakistan’s national interest. He said that people of Pakistan are backing our security forces in their operations as a result of the national consensus achieved by the people and the institutions of Pakistan.
There is no other country which has sacrificed more in human life and material terms than Pakistan in the global fight against terrorism, Dar said.
The finance minister told the US official that the economic turnaround in the country was an indication of the improved security situation as well as a result of the highly liberal economic policies pursued by the government of Pakistan.
Dar assured the US official that the Government would not relent the pressure on the elements engaged in terrorism and extremism in the country till the objectives set out in the National Action Plan for secure and prosperous Pakistan were achieved.
Moreover, the finance minister welcomed the US National Security Advisor Lt. General McMaster’s recent visit to Pakistan, terming it a strong and timely indication of the US’s desire to partner with Pakistan in achieving the common objectives of peace and security in Afghanistan and the larger South Asia region.
Highlighting the concerns in Pakistan over the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, Ishaq Dar observed that the only long-term resolution of the problems in Afghanistan was political and use of military means should only be to facilitate an Afghan owned and Afghan led reconciliation process.
The US Acting Deputy Secretary of State conveyed to the finance minister the Trump administration’s commitment to engage Pakistan for a broad based bilateral relationship and to partner with Pakistan to achieve regional peace and security in South Asia.
