May 16, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan wants to move beyond the Salala incident and improve ties with the US, said Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Monday.
Foreign minister says Pakistan wants to play a role of a facilitator as far as Afghanistan is concerned.
May 16, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan wants to move beyond the Salala incident and improve ties with the US, said Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Monday.
Foreign minister says Pakistan wants to play a role of a facilitator as far as Afghanistan is concerned.
“We want to play a role of a facilitator as far as peace and stability in Afghanistan is concerned,” she said, adding that Pakistan has never charged its War on Terror allies for using its land routes to run supplies.
Speaking at a press briefing in Islamabad, Khar said that the talks with the US are heading in a positive direction.
“Both, Pakistan and NATO want peace in the region,” she stated.
The foreign minister said the government had sought an unconditional apology from the US, over the Salala check post incident in which 24 Pakistani soldiers had been killed, as had been demanded by the Parliament in a policy review, and that this subject has been taken up with US authorities at all levels.
Pakistan is expected to take a final decision about NATO supply route next week when the Defense Committee of the Cabinet meets to discuss the issue.
The decision would also pave the way for Pakistan’s participation in the Chicago summit which would discuss the Afghan endgame. Diplomats on both sides have been keen to resolve the impasse between Islamabad and Washington before the summit on May 21-22.
It is also to be noted that in late April, the US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Marc Grossman also visited Islamabad and held discussions with the top government and military echelon.
