National News

WASHINGTON, (APP): Pakistan and Afghanistan faced
shared threat from terrorist networks and the United States want
to see improvement in their dialogue and cooperation against their
common enemy, a US State Department Spokesman has said.
Asked to comment on a reported statement by the Afghan
President, US State Department Spokesman John Kirby said on
Friday the United States continues to see that Afghanistan and
Pakistan still face a shared threat from terrorist networks.
Kirby’s remarks came a day after an editorial in the New
York Times blamed Pakistan for the mess in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s
ambassador to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani in a rejoinder
rejected the editorial saying that the collective failure of the international community was to be held responsible.
At a regular briefing at the State Department, spokesman
Kirby said the terrorist networks continued to use safe havens,
posing threats to both Pakistan and Afghanistan. “That’s why
we still have a counter-terrorism presence in Afghanistan.”
He said it was for that reason that the United States
continue to work with the Government of Pakistan as best
it can to help share information as appropriate to help all
sides go after this shared threat.
“This is a shared, common enemy to the people of Afghanistan
and to the people of Pakistan, and they have been working and
communicating together, and we want to see that kind of dialogue
and cooperation continue and to improve,” he added.
On the issue of opening Torkham border, he said the United
States want to see that it’s open and would like to see both
Pakistan and Afghanistan work through their differences.
Responding to a question that relationship between Pakistan
and the United States had been under stress for the last few
months, the spokesman said it was an important, vital relationship
that the United States strongly believed in.
“Is it complicated at times? Absolutely, it is. And do we
see eye-to-eye on every issue with Pakistan? No, we don’t.
But that’s why the relationship matters so much, because we
have shared threats and shared concerns, shared interest in
the region, and we’re going to continue to work at it,” he
added.
He did not agree with a questioner that the two sides did
not have best of the relationship at this point of time,
again reiterating that it was an important relationship that
“we continue to work at very, very seriously, and we are –
we’re going to remain committed to.”