Pakistan's democratically elected civilian govt 'primary interlocutor' in bilateral ties: US

The US has said that Pakistan has a civilian government that is democratically elected, and "that is its primary interlocutor".

During a news briefing, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price was asked about Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa's visit to Washington.

Price replied said that Deputy Secretary Sherman did have the opportunity to meet Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa in Washington last week.

"I am just not going to characterize the meeting beyond what I said earlier. We have a number of shared interests with our Pakistani partners," he said.

The spokesperson further said that the US value's its longstanding cooperation with Pakistan, adding that there are a number of areas where the interests are aligned.

"Of course, the stability and the future of Afghanistan, of the Afghan people, the security challenges that the region and potentially beyond face there always are on the agenda when we have high-level engagements with our Pakistani counterparts.

USAID pledges $20mn in additional help for Pakistan

We meet with and speak with them regularly on a range of issues. But as is standard practice, we don’t delve into the details of those engagements always," he said.

Answering a question on rumours of misappropriation of relief funds, Price said, “This is something we take very seriously, not only in Pakistan but anywhere around the world where American taxpayer dollars are implicated and where there is an urgent humanitarian interest at stake, which is clearly the case in terms of response to the flooding in Pakistan.”

Price further said that the US government sends inspection teams to such areas to monitor the situation and has done so in Pakistan too, where one such team visited 10 flood-affected areas in Balochistan last month.

"We also are required to provide regular program updates on the progress of activities and any security concerns, and we require them – our partners – to immediately report any potential diversions, seizures, or losses immediately.

So this is something we take very seriously," Price replied.