A senior State Department official stated that the United States of America (USA) had urged Pakistan to “prioritize and expand economic reforms” so it could address the “economic challenges” confronting the cash-strapped country during meetings with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
US State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel stated this was communicated to Aurangzeb during his meeting with Assistant Secretary Donald Lu and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Horst.
Patel said in a press briefing, “During the meetings from our end, we encouraged Pakistan to prioritize and expand economic reforms to address its own economic challenges.”
Aurangzeb is the currency in the USA’s capital to hold talks with the IMF for a new bailout package and attend World Bank meetings. US Diplomat Lu has been at the center of the cipher controversy in which former PM Imran Khan was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment along with ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Just two weeks before the ouster of the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insa government in April 2022 through a vote of no confidence, Khan had brandished a piece of paper- allegedly a full copy of a diplomatic cipher – at a public rally in Islamabad, claiming it as a proof of a conspiracy against his government due to a foreign power.
Patel has stated that Pakistan’s minister of finance is in the US for a series of meetings not only within the US government interagency but is also engaging with non-governmental organizations.
The State Department official has also said that Pakistan is still a crucial partner for the USA. He added, “Particularly, it’s a country we have an immense security cooperation with, and we, of course, are looking to continue to collaborate and work with the Government of Pakistan,”
