Jalil Afridi
WASHINGTON DC: US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price while answering a question by The Frontier Post said that the US will provide assistance to Pakistan incase the later needs it to fight against terrorism.
While speaking at the press briefing at US State Department, Ned Price stated that “we are aware of the Counter Terrorism Center being taken over by the Taliban in Bannu” and that US is keeping a keen eye on the situation.
In reply to a question about Pakistani Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the butcher of Gujrat and whether US was compromising on some of its values in terms of having India as strategic partner, Ned replied by saying that India is our strategic partner and we do raise our concerns with them on different forums with regard to any human rights violations in India. Ned did emphasize that both Pakistan and India are US partners and he hopes that both the country can sit down and discuss their issues, including the Kashmir issue.
While replying to another question by this scribe that whether US will recover the looted money by former Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani which he took away from Afghanistan when he escaped and took refuge in UAE, Ned said that different departments within the government work on such issues but over all there was no clarity in Ned’s reply to this question.
Ned Price also said the US is not aware of any meeting between the Taliban leadership and the Russian authorities.
Ned also hoped that the upcoming visit of US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken will bring some fruitful results for both the countries and for the countries around the world. Ned did regret the fact that China was heavily cooperating with Russia while Russia was the aggressor and leashing a war on sovereign Ukraine.
