The US said on Friday that it was committed to working with Pakistan and pledged support for democracy, amid friction between the war partners and a political showdown in Islamabad.
“The issues that we face — the challenges we face — are too important,” US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
“We desire a closer, more productive relationship with Pakistan, both militarily as well as politically and we are constantly working to build that closer cooperation,” he said.
Relations between the US and Pakistan have severely -deteriorated this year. On Nov. 26, US airstrikes near the Afghan border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, leading Islamabad to halt supply routes for NATO forces.
The Pentagon on Thursday released a probe that acknowledged significant US responsibility and pinned blame on mistrust between the countries, but the investigation said that US forces responded only after coming under fire.
Pakistan denied its forces had fired first and rejected the probe. It has pressed US President Barack Obama for an apology.
Tensions have also been rising within Pakistan, with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday delivering -unprecedented sharp criticism against the military and accusing “conspirators” of plotting to bring down his government.
Asked about the dispute, Toner said: “We support the democratic process in Pakistan, we support the constitution and the rule of law, as well as the will of the Pakistani people.”
However, he added: “This is a matter for the Pakistani people to resolve within their own political process.”
Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani on Friday denied that the military was plotting to seize power. The military has a long history of intervening in politics in Pakistan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing