Pakistan wants relations with US based on mutual interest, respect: Qureshi

WASHINGTON: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan wants a peaceful Afghanistan for regional stability and development, ARY News reported.

During his speech in US Institute of Peace in Washington, the foreign minister said that Pakistan has great concerns over the terrorists’ hideouts in Afghanistan which are being used to attack on Pakistan.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan has rendered unprecedented sacrifices in war on terror and the International Community should acknowledge Pakistan efforts in this regard.

He repeated his stance that Pakistan wants relations with United States based on mutual interest and respect.

Qureshi said that close engagement between Pakistan and the United States had always been mutually beneficial and a factor for stability in South Asia.

He stressed that, going forward, a broad-based and structured framework for dialogue would best serve the two countries’ shared interests.

Earlier in the day, the foreign minister met Senator Tom Cotton, a member of US Senate’s Armed Services Committee.

They discussed bilateral relations and agreed on the need for Pakistan-US cooperation for peace in the region.

The foreign minister, who is paying an official visit to Washington, met US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Tuesday.

During the meeting, the foreign minister noted that Pakistan and the United States shared a common desire for peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region at large.

He reiterated Pakistan’s support for a political settlement in Afghanistan, noting that the use of force had failed to deliver results. The Foreign Minister stressed that peace in South Asia, which was a common goal of both the United States and Pakistan, would remain elusive until all disputes, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, are resolved.