Washington: The United States on Thursday acknowledged that there are bumps in its relationship with Pakistan and it is working with leaders in Islamabad to address such challenges.
"Are there bumps in the road? Certainly. Are there challenges? Of course," State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, told reporters at his daily news briefing responding to volley of questions about commitment of Pakistan in the war against terrorism.
"We need to work cooperatively together. We need to work past and through these issues because we do have many successes to point to and we've seen progress in building this relationship," Toner said.
"So we believe it's, it's in our interest. Me speaking more broadly about our assistance to Pakistan, it's in our national security interest, our security interest of the United States and Pakistan to build a prosperous, more Democratic Pakistan with stronger institutions and, and a prosperous economy. Because that provides the kind of deterrent to extremism," he argued.
Toner said the US has a strong relationship and counter terrorism relationship and that despite these challenges, the two countries need to keep moving forward.
It is ultimately going to be for Pakistan to show Congress and to answer the concerns of the lawmakers. Referring to the series of high profile visits by top US officials to Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden, Toner said the US has been up front about challenges in the relationship.
"But we've also been consistent in saying that Pakistan and the US need each other. We need to work through these challenges because it's in both of our long term and short term, frankly, interests to do so," he said.
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