WASHINGTON: Pakistan has a “rough” neighbourhood that needs strong defence capabilities, Ambassador Masood Khan said at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, while hoping that Islamabad’s defence relations with the US will continue.
Addressing a gathering of scholars, intellectuals and opinion-makers during ‘Ambassador Circle Series’ arranged by World Affairs Council of Charlotte, North Carolina, the envoy said that Pakistan and its neighbours countries have had strategic partnerships. They have had peaks and troughs, agreements and disagreements, but they remained steadfast partners throughout these seven and a half decades. Pakistan wanted to continue this partnership, he added.
The Council’s ‘Ambassador Circle Series’ provides opportunity for the current and former diplomats and high-ranking government officials who visit Charlotte to share their thoughts on diplomatic relationships between the US and countries around the world.
Highlighting that the threat of terrorism was still potent, Masood Khan said that it has not vanished because the US has come back from Afghanistan.
He said that it is a lethal threat not only to Pakistan and Afghanistan, but to the US and its allies in the region as well. The ambassador said that Pakistan and the United States should work for regional peace and stability through all diplomatic channels and other peaceful means.
In the non-security items, we should invest in trade and investment and increase United States’ Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Pakistan,” he added.
Pakistan-US Ties
Stressing that Islamabad-Washington relations are strong, he told the gathering that Pakistan helped the US not only with safe evacuation of its forces but also relocation of 75,000 Afghans. He said that there is a large caseload of Afghans waiting to come to the US and Pakistan is helping them as processing of their visas continues.
Masood Khan further said that the growth of tech industry of Pakistan in recent past was a promising in context of strengthened Pak-US ties as the country was part of the overall ecosystem which has made strides in tech industry.
