US welcomes Pakistan’s offer to deploy troops in Gaza

The United States has said that it was grateful for Pakistan’s offer to deploy troops for peacebuilding in Gaza, saying that further clarity was still required before any country could be asked to formally commit.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked whether the US got the consent from Pakistan that they will be sending their troops in Gaza for peacebuilding and peacemaking there.

“Yeah. Well, look, in fairness to all the countries we’ve talked to about being and having a presence on the ground, I think they want to know specifically what the mandate, what the specific mandate and what the funding mechanism looks like,” the secretary replied.

“So we’re very grateful to Pakistan for their offer to be a part of it, or at least their offer to consider being a part of it.  I think we owe them a few more answers before we can ask anybody to firmly commit.”

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In October, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that the government of Pakistan is yet to decide about sending troops to support the peace-keeping force, possibly to be deployed, in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Rubio said that he felt “very confident that we have a number of nation-states acceptable to all sides in this who are willing to step forward and be a part of that stabilization force, and certainly Pakistan is key if they agree to do so”.

“But I think we owe them a few more answers before we get there.  We’re trying to make a lot of progress here with the – I think the next step here is announcing the Board of Peace, announcing the Palestinian technocratic group that will help provide daily governance”.

In September, US President Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point peace plan, which laid the foundation for the peace agreement signed in October by Israel and Hamas.

Among them was the establishment of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), composed mainly of troops from Muslim-majority countries.