Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, delivers a talk on “Peace and Stability in South Asia” at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Washington DC: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, today delivered a talk on “Peace and Stability in South Asia” at the prestigious Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Ambassador Chaudhry was invited to speak at the Carnegie by its President and former Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Chaudhry said that Pakistan values and wishes to further strengthen its long standing relationship with the United States. Tracing 70-year history of the relationship, the Ambassador stated that robust engagement between the two countries had served common interests. He said that Pakistan would continue to strengthen this relationship on the basis of mutual respect and mutuality of interests.
Dilating on the breadth of relationship, Ambassador Chaudhry added that apart from the Government to Government contacts, there were also deep and vibrant people to people contacts between the two countries in the fields of trade, education, art and culture which kept relationship invigorated.
Referring to the recent high-level meetings between the two countries, the Ambassador stated that the two countries were closely engaging on a number of important issues including regional peace and stability in South Asia that included bringing about lasting peace in Afghanistan. He emphasized the importance of Pakistan and the United States working together towards achieving stability in Afghanistan- being a shared objective.
The Ambassador also briefed the audience on sustained anti-terror operations by Pakistan’s security forces which had eliminated safe havens of terrorist networks from tribal areas of Pakistan. He informed the audience that building on these gains, Pakistan continues to act decisively against remnants of these networks all across the country through operation Radd-ul-Fassad.
Ambassador Chaudhry argued that Pakistan’s successes in the fight against terrorism had resulted in an improved internal security environment paving the way for economic upturn in the country. Making a case for closer economic relations between the two countries, the Ambassador stated that greater collaboration between Pakistan and the US corporate sectors would generate jobs and prosperity for both countries.
Responding to a question on India’s role in Afghanistan, the Ambassador stated that India must immediately halt its destabilizing activities from the Afghan soil and desist from perpetuating the conflict in Afghanistan for its own narrow interest.
Washington DC,
05 December 2017
