WASHINGTON (National Times) The State Department on Thursday reiterated that it supports direct talks between Pakistan and India, however, the scope of negotiations should be determined by the two neighbouring countries and not the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said this in response to a query seeking his comments on recent exchanges that took place between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi over the latter\u2019s securing a third term as the premier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe value our important relationships with both India and Pakistan. As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and character should be determined by those two countries, not by us,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PM Shehbaz on June 10 congratulated Modi on taking oath as the Indian PM. Modi, in response, thanked Shehbaz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shehbaz\u2019s elder brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, also felicitated the Indian PM. \u201cLet us replace hate with hope and seize the opportunity to shape the destiny of the two billion people of South Asia,\u201d he advised Modi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian PM in his response said, \u201cThe people of India have always stood for peace, security and progressive ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdvancing the well-being and security of our people shall always remain our priority,\u201d he added.
Meanwhile, addressing the department\u2019s press briefing, the State Department spokesperson said the US and Pakistan had a shared interest in combating threats to regional security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe partner with Pakistan on security through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including several counterterrorism capacity-building programs, and we support a series of US-Pakistan military-to-military engagements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was asked about Pakistani Ambassador to US Masood Khan\u2019s statement that Pakistan needed modern American weapons to fight the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as the terror outfit is \u201cusing American weapons against Pakistani military forces that were left by US forces in Afghanistan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller said, \u201cWe are in regular communication with the Pakistani leaders as a part of our partnership on CT issues, and we will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through our annual counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (National Times) The State Department on Thursday reiterated that it supports direct talks between Pakistan and India, however, the scope of negotiations should be determined by the two neighbouring countries and not the US. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said this in response to a query seeking his comments on recent exchanges that took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n