Security partnership with Pakistan a priority: US

WASHINGTON: The State Department on Wednesday said that security partnership between the US and Pakistan has been a priority and will continue to be so.

“We will continue to work to expand the security partnership between the United States and Pakistan,” the department spokesperson said, responding to a question about what support America could provide to Pakistan to combat threats from the TTP.

During the daily press briefing, the spokesperson was also asked about the UN assistance to the Taliban government in Afghanistan. He explained that the US requires its partners’ safeguard in place to ensure the assistance reaches those who need it. “We also require robust monitoring, reporting from partner organizations implementing the assistance programmes including those in unstable and unfriendly environments,” he said, adding that “when there is cause for concern related to the delivery of assistance we have plans and protocols in place to respond and we continue to monitor all of our assistance programmes,” and seek to mitigate the risk that US assistance could indirectly benefit the taliban or could be diverted to unintended recipients.