By APP
Washington : Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the United States would continue to pursue its wide-ranging relations with Pakistan as she credited President Pervez Musharraf with guiding his nation toward free and fair election that has given Pakistani people a chance for a broad-based civilian government.
The top American diplomat, addressing at a Press conference said Musharraf is the president of the country and the United States would continue to deal with him and pursue its interests for a stable and democratic Pakistan. Rice also stressed it is for the Pakistanis to arrange their coalition government.
“The elections were elections that I think instill some confidence in the Pakistani people that this was an outcome that moves them closer or further down the road back to not just civilian government but to democratic civilian government that is more broadly based. That is, to my mind, the best possible outcome, which is that the Pakistani people now have a chance for civilian government that is broadly based,” she stated.
Continuing, she said, “How they arrange their coalition is really a Pakistani affair. The president of Pakistan is Pervez Musharraf and he is the president of Pakistan, and so, of course, we will deal with him. We will continue to pursue American interests which are for a stable and democratic Pakistan.”
That’s why, she added, the US cooperation programmes with Pakistan have been “not just about counterterrorism but also on education and also on women’s empowerment and all of the elements of support for Pakistani social and economic progress.”
The US administration, she said, encouraged President Musharraf to lift the state of emergency imposed in November last year, take off his uniform and lead the country to free and fair elections. “I believe he has done exactly that,” she acknowledged.
On anti-terror cooperation between the two allies, she said it is also “in our interest to have a sustained and very robust counter-terrorism effort,” and empahsized it is in the interest of both nations to continue to pursue the agenda.
“Not only is that important to American security— and frankly, I think the American people expect the President of the United States to continue to pursue an agenda with Pakistan that protects our interests in a robust counterterrorism effort—that said, that counterterrorism effort is also in the interest of the Pakistani people, who watched one of their great political leaders assassinated by extremists.”
Dr Rice remarked the Pakistani people have clearly expressed in the election that “they wanted a better life, they wanted more jobs, they also want the extremism and the violence to end” and the American and Pakistani people share the common goal.
“So I think we and the Pakistani people have a common agenda here. They have made their voices known. The United States is very proud for them that they have made their voices known in this way, and we’re going to pursue relations with Pakistan with our interests in mind the way that we would with any other country that we believe is making progress toward a more democratic future.”