Victoria-Nuland-Reuters-670
US ambassador to Nato Victoria Nuland smiles during a meeting in Skopje in this April 9, 2008 file photo. – File Photo by Reuters

WASHINGTON: This is an opportunity for the United States to fully reengage with Pakistan, said the US State Department on Wednesday, hours before a crucial meeting in Islamabad attempts to rebuild frayed relations between the two countries.

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland expressed the US desire to reengage Pakistan at a news briefing in Washington when a journalist asked if the Americans wanted to discuss with the Pakistanis all the issues raised in a Pakistani parliamentary review.

US Special Representative Marc Grossman, who arrived in Islamabad earlier on Wednesday, “is open to working through the results of the parliamentary review with the Pakistani government”, Ms Nuland said.

“We had been waiting for that review to be concluded before we could fully reengage, so this is our opportunity to do that.”

Asked if Ambassador Grossman was carrying a message from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Ms Nuland said this meeting was in the context of Pakistan’s parliamentary review.

“We’ve begun our process of reengaging with the Pakistani government to work through the issues that have come up during the review. So this will be an effort to really take up those issues one at a time, and to see how we work through them,” she said.

The State Department also noted that Pakistan informed India before conducting its latest missile test, and said Washington would like the two South Asian neighbours to continue to stay engaged with each other.

She said Pakistan had also informed Washington before conducting the missile test on Wednesday but it was more important that it had informed India too.

“We (have) the same message that we gave at the time of the Indian test: that we urge all nuclear capable states to exercise restraint regarding nuclear and missile capabilities,” she said.

“We understand that this was a planned launch. The Pakistanis have said it wasn’t a direct response to the Indian test,” the US official noted.

“But what’s most important is that they do seem to have taken steps to inform the Indians and we are quite intent on those two countries continuing to work together and improve their dialogue.”

The United States, she said, wanted to hear the Pakistani government’s presentation on “where it thinks the bilateral relationship needs to go, and then we will present our views and work through the issues as partners do”.—Correspondent

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