Pakistan, US have developed understanding: FO

The recovery of abducted couple as a result of cooperation has added to the cooperative spirit, says FO spokesperson

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States have developed a better understanding and their cooperation is increasing as a result of recent ‘positive developments’, according to the Foreign Office.

Foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria told reporters at a weekly news briefing that senior level visits from the United States were expected in the coming days as part of the understanding on bilateral engagements at various levels.

The sudden thaw in otherwise frosty relationship between the two ostensible allies is attributed to the recent rescue of a Canadian-American couple by Pakistan Army.

“The recovery of the abducted couple as a result of cooperation has added to the cooperative spirit and optimism,” Zakaria said.



He added that there had been many positive developments in our relations with the United States, which resulted in better understanding and increasing cooperation.

“The manifestations are productive meeting between our prime minister and the US vice president and subsequent visits of the foreign minister to the US and inter-agency meeting between the delegations of the US and Pakistan on 12 Oct,” he informed reporters.

“We appreciate President Trump’s message on 14 October, in which he said that the US was ‘starting to develop a much better relationship’ with Pakistan and its leaders.”

Trump also thanked for Pakistan’s cooperation on many fronts. Many messages at various levels followed including the US vice president’s call to the prime minister.



The spokesperson, however, preferred not to respond to the statement of the US Ambassador to the UN in which she said that the Trump administration was urging India to keep an ‘eye’ on Pakistan.

“Regarding your questions on the statement by the US envoy to the UN, we are focused on the positive developments as manifested in the statements made at the higher political levels,” Zakaria stressed.

About the outcome of recently held four-nation talks in Muscat, Oman, on the Afghan peace process, the spokesperson said the meeting discussed efforts for facilitating the Afghan reconciliation process according to the Quadrilateral Coordination Group’s agreed terms of references and roadmap.

“Dates for the next meeting will be finalised with mutual agreement,” Zakaria said without sharing further details.

The talks in Muscat among Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and the United States were held after a hiatus of over year.

The four-nation initiative could not move forward after Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan in May  last year.