WASHINGTON: The Nawaz Sharif government is going to be “very clear” about Pakistan’s interests when it has differences with the United States, says the White House.
At a briefing in Washington, Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser at the White House, also observed that both governments wanted to build a stronger relationship and the Obama administration was ready to work with the Sharif government to achieve this target.
“Even as we have differences on some issues between the US and Pakistan, (we want) to make sure that the trajectory of the relationship is a positive one,” he said.
The White House official dispelled the impression, created by recent media reports, that the United States and Pakistan were not yet ready for a summit meeting between their leaders.
“We’d like to have a formal meeting with the prime minister of Pakistan in the near future. So it’s a matter of making sure that we can find an appropriate time for both leaders to come together,” he said.
Mr Rhodes recalled that President Obama had a “good set of discussions” on the phone with Mr Sharif when the US president telephoned him on his electoral victory.
“I think our impression is that the Sharif government wants to find a basis to rebuild a stronger US-Pakistan relationship, that they’re going to be very clear about what their interests are and when they have differences on some issues,” he said.
Yet, “we both believe that our nations benefit when we can find ways to work together on issues related to counter-terrorism, on issues related to economic growth and development inside of Pakistan, and also on regional stability.”
Mr Rhodes, like the Pakistan Foreign Office, ruled out an Obama-Sharif meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
At his briefing in Washington, Mr Rhodes emphasised the importance of India-Pakistan dialogue, saying that only peace in the region could bring stability to South Asia.
He also underlined the need to improve relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“We want to ensure that we’re enlisting Pakistan as a partner. But we also want to help ensure that Pakistan and Afghanistan are finding ways to bridge their mistrust and to build deeper cooperation,” he said.
The United States believes that “a strong and positive relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan fills the interests of both countries and the United States as well,” the top Obama aide said.