Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the United States has had a “healthy military-to-military relationship with Pakistani armed forces”, adding that “we have every expectation that will be able to continue to be the case”.
These comments come two days after Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan, after ousting Imran Khan via the no confidence motion.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Kirby said the US had shared interests with Pakistan regarding security and stability in the region. “We recognize that Pakistan plays a key role in the region. We recognize that Pakistan and the Pakistani people are, themselves, victims of terrorist attacks inside their own country,” he added.
This comes a day after the new government said that it wished to constructively and positively engage with the US to promote shared goals of peace, security, and development in the region.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s House said, “We welcome US reaffirmation of long-standing ties with Pakistan.”
It added that Pakistan looked forward to expanding its “important relationship” with the United States based on equality, mutual interest, and mutual benefit.
The development also comes a day after United States and India called upon Pakistan to take “irreversible action” to ensure that its soil is not used for terrorist attacks against any other country.
In response to the statement by United States and India, Pakistan stated today that it was unfortunate that a bilateral cooperation mechanism was being utilized to target a third country for political purposes and to mislead public opinion away from emerging terror threats.
