Jalil Afridi
Washington DC: The US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller while replying to The Frontier Post stated that US Ambassador to Pakistan, Donald Blome should be asked about his meeting with Chief Election Commission (CEC) of Pakistan.
When asked by TFP that what does the State Department or any of its diplomat has to do while visiting the Election Commission office of any country. Matthew Miller stated that he knew where the TFP was going with this question but stated that the US State Department will continue to say that United States does not have a preference of one political candidate over the other and that the only thing the US asks from Pakistan is to hold free and fair elections in the country.
TFP also asked Matthew Miller whether the US is aware that the Afghan currently has become four times more stronger than the PakistanI currency. Miller stated that the U.S. will continue to support Pakistan to make its economy stronger and stable.
One of the other story which was discussed in detail during todays briefing was about the MOU signed between the US, India, Saudi Arabic,UAE Israel and the European Union to create water, rail and digital connectivity between these countries.
While not mentioning China’s OBOR (One Belt One Road) project, Miller said that this project will be far more transparent , sustainable and will have far more economical benefits for nations and the region.
When asked whether this MOU will normalize ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, Matthew stated that he does not want to speculate anything at the moment because at present only MOU has been signed and thay he was not aware of the complete details of this project.
It is pertinent to mention here that TFP has contacted the US Embassy in Islamabad to seek comments of Ambassador Blome with regard to his meeting with CEC. In its questionnaire TFP has asked whether the Ambassador met the Pakistani CEC on his own description or wherever he was asked from Washington DC to hold such meeting. The Ambassador has also been asked whether the Ambassador believes that the people to people relations between Pakistan and the US have improved since last one year or has it decreased.
