State Dept spokesperson sidesteps question about military supplies to Pakistan

A State Department official said on Thursday that the United States wants Indian and Pakistan to engage directly for trade talks while side stepping a question about providing military equipment to Pakistan.

Speaking at a scheduled press briefing on Thursday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that US considers both Pakistan and India to be important partners.

“So we value our important relationships with both India and Pakistan,” Miller said.

“As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and character should be determined by those two countries, not by us,” he added.

However, when asked about remarks by Ambassador Masoof Khan about the need for modern US weapons to fight the TTP, Miller chose to focus on counter-terrorism dialogue with Pakistan.

“So the United States and Pakistan have a shared interest in combating threats to regional security. We partner with Pakistan on security through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including several counterterrorism capacity building programs, and we support a series of U.S.-Pakistan military-to-military engagements,” he said.

“We are regular – in regular communication with the Pakistani leaders as a part of our partnership on CT issues, and we will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through our annual counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations,” he added.