United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, during an exclusive interview on PTV News programme ‘Shahrah-e-Dastoor’, said, “Pakistan should be very proud of 42 years of helping Afghan refugees and the US, as well as the world, was grateful for that,” reports Dawn.
“It is an extraordinary system,” she said, commending Pakistan for continuously helping Afghan refugees.
Sherman was also asked about her comments about relations between the US and Pakistan during her visit to India.
In response to the question about Sherman’s comments where she categorically said, “It’s for a very specific and narrow purpose, we don’t see ourselves building a broad relationship with Pakistan,” Sherman clarified that by “specific steps” she meant that the purpose of her trip to Pakistan was to predominantly focus on the aftermath of events in Afghanistan and review bilateral relationships between the US and Pakistan.
“The US and Pakistan have had longstanding relations for decades,” she said.
She went on to say that “this is a time of great change in [this] region because of the events in Afghanistan”, and the US and the world were reassessing what the future would look like.
She added that the US was glad that Pakistan had called for an inclusive government in Afghanistan and progress on this front should be made so as to “create a better life for the people of Afghanistan”.
“And we also agree that humanitarian assistance [to Afghanistan] should continue,” Sherman said, sharing details of measures taken by the US for this purpose.
