Pakistan’s non-participation in the summit will not affect relations, US said

Washington: Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, said that relations with Islamabad will not be affected despite Pakistan’s absence from the second ‘Summit for Democracy’ hosted by US President Joe Biden this week.

During the press briefing, he regretted Pakistan’s decision not to participate in the ‘Summit for Democracy’. However, he said that Pakistan is “a sovereign state” and “can make decisions for itself”.

He also said that the US and Pakistan work together on broader issues and that Washington will continue to engage with Pakistan on issues related to democracy and human rights. He added that the two countries also have a “significant security partnership”.

Responding to a question about increasing terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan-US counter-terrorism cooperation, Vedant Patel said that “Pakistan has a deep security partnership, which includes counter-terrorism efforts”.

Asked about relations with India and Pakistan, the spokesman said, “The United States values ​​its relations with both its partners, India and Pakistan.”

At the beginning of this week, after deliberation, Pakistan decided to withdraw from the three-day ‘Summit for Democracy’ organized by the United States. The US had invited more than 100 countries, including Taiwan, but excluded China.

In this context, political experts said that Pakistan’s decision was complicated because the US did not invite China and Turkey while Taiwan participated in the summit. Pakistan has close relations with China and Turkey and any decision will be taken keeping in mind the concerns of both countries, especially Beijing.