ISLAMABAD, July 31: A US Embassy spokesperson in Pakistan, Ms Linda Cheatham, on Thursday said that Pakistan had never made a commitment to send troops to Iraq.

“Pakistan’s position on the issue has been consistent and it is for Pakistan to decide what role it can play in the reconstruction of Iraq,” Ms Cheatham told APP when asked to comment on a Wall Street Journal’s report.

The Wall Street Journal in its report published in Wednesday’s edition alleged that Pakistan continued to stall on sending troops to Iraq despite accepting US request in this regard.

“We have had extensive conversation with Pakistan about the situation in Iraq. Pakistan never made a commitment to send troops to Iraq,” the spokesperson said.

She said, like many countries, Pakistan had expressed a strong interest in seeing security and stability established in Iraq and would like to participate in Iraq’s reconstruction.

“We will continue consultations about how they can contribute to that goal. We are leaving it to the individual governments to provide specifics on their particular contributions,” Ms Cheatham said.

Commenting on the Wall Street Journal’s report Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said that the matter of sending troops to Iraq was still under review and no decision had been made so far in this regard.

The Foreign Office spokesman told APP that Pakistan’s stand and response on the question of sending troops to Iraq had been consistent.

“The President has said that Pakistan has agreed in principle to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq. We had also said that Pakistan would consider sending troops under the umbrella of the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Conference or the Gulf Cooperation Council,” Mr Masood said.

“The basis of our agreement in principle to send troops is our desire to make a sincere effort to help the people of Iraq and to make our contribution towards peace and stability in that country. This objective remains unchanged,” the spokesman said.