Pakistan's
Ambassador to the United States, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, today delivered a talk
on "Peace and Stability in South Asia" at the prestigious Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace. Ambassador Chaudhry was invited to speak at
the Carnegie by its President and former Deputy Secretary of State William J.
Burns, says a press release received from Washington here today.
Speaking at the event,
Ambassador Chaudhry said that Pakistan values and wishes to further strengthen
its long standing relationship with the United States. Tracing 70-year history
of the relationship, the Ambassador stated that robust engagement between the
two countries had served common interests. He said that Pakistan would continue
to strengthen this relationship on the basis of mutual respect and mutuality of
interests. Dilating on the breadth of relationship, Ambassador Chaudhry added
that apart from the Government to Government contacts, there were also deep and
vibrant people to people contacts between the two countries in the fields of
trade, education, art and culture which kept relationship invigorated.
Referring to the recent
high-level meetings between the two countries, the Ambassador stated that the
two countries were closely engaging on a number of important issues including
regional peace and stability in South Asia that included bringing about lasting
peace in Afghanistan. He emphasized the importance of Pakistan and the United
States working together towards achieving stability in Afghanistan- being a
shared objective. The Ambassador also briefed the audience on sustained
anti-terror operations by Pakistan's security forces which had eliminated safe
havens of terrorist networks from tribal areas of Pakistan. He informed the
audience that building on these gains, Pakistan continues to act decisively
against remnants of these networks all across the country through operation
Radd-ul-Fassad. Ambassador Chaudhry argued that Pakistan's successes in the fight
against terrorism had resulted in an improved internal security environment
paving the way for economic upturn in the country. Making a case for closer
economic relations between the two countries, the Ambassador stated that
greater collaboration between Pakistan and the US corporate sectors would
generate jobs and prosperity for both countries. Responding to a
question on India's role in Afghanistan, the Ambassador stated that India must
immediately halt its destabilizing activities from the Afghan soil and desist
from perpetuating the conflict in Afghanistan for its own narrow interest.
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