US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has congratulated the newly elected Pakistan prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, saying Washington looks forward to continuing its longstanding cooperation with Islamabad.
“Pakistan has been an important partner on wide-ranging mutual interests for nearly 75 years and we value our relationship,” Blinken said in a statement, a day after Sharif was elected prime minister by the National Assembly, the lower chamber, of Pakistan’s Parliament.
“The United States congratulates newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and we look forward to continuing our long-standing cooperation with Pakistan’s government,” the top diplomat said.
The United States, he noted, views a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan as essential for the interests of both of our countries.
The election of Shehbaz Sharif as the head of a new government came after weeks of power struggle which saw his successor embattled prime minister Imran Khas ousted through a no-trust move.
Khan, who developed differences with the country’s army chief, desperately tried to cling to power but the court intervened and overturned his move to thwart a no-confidence motion in the Parliament. Khas continues to allege that his loss of power is a result of a US-aided move, which saw the Opposition parties get together vote him out of power.
Washington has firmly denied any role or interference in Pakistan’s internal political developments.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said the United States has a “healthy military-to-military relationship” with Pakistani armed forces and it expects to continue that relationship.”
“We recognize that Pakistan plays a key role in the region,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday.
The Pentagon spokesman added, “We recognize that Pakistan and the Pakistani people are, themselves, victims of terrorist attacks inside their own country. We recognize that we have shared interests with Pakistan with respect to security and stability in that part of the world.
“And we do have a healthy military-to-military relationship with Pakistani armed forces. And we have every expectation that that will be able to continue to be the case.”
