The United States has described Pakistan as an “important partner” that shares its commitment to upholding the global non-proliferation regime. However, at the same time, it reaffirmed its long-standing policy of denying support for Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme.
The US statement came hours after Pakistan’s forceful response in reaction to the State Department’s December 18 announcement of additional sanctions on entities contributing to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme.
Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Islamabad’s conduct raised “real questions” about its intentions, saying nuclear-armed Pakistan is developing long-range ballistic missile capabilities that eventually could allow it to strike targets outside of South Asia, including the United States.
“Candidly, it’s hard for us to see Pakistan’s actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States,” Finer said in a speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Earlier today, the US reiterated that the US would continue to use sanctions and other tools to protect its national security.
“The US is committed to maintaining the global non-proliferation regime and Pakistan is an important partner in that. However, we have been clear and consistent about our concerns about Pakistan’s long-range, ballistic missile programme,” Vedant Patel, the spokesman of the US State Department said, addressing a weekly press briefing on Thursday.
“It is long-standing US policy to deny support to Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme. The Department of State will continue to use sanctions and other tools to protect our national security and ensure that US exporters and US financial systems cannot be abused by proliferators.”
The spokesperson said that the US hoped to continue to engage constructively with the Pakistani government on these issues.
Replying to a question, Patel said that the US had concerns regarding Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme, but they don’t affect other areas of bilateral areas of cooperation.
