The ambassador and the congressman agreed to establish the process of an institutional and structured dialogue on matters of mutual interest as soon as possible

 

US-Pakistan Relations Vital to Regional and Global Peace, Ambassador Sheikh Tells US Congressional Armed Services Committee Chairman

By Elaine Pasquini

Washington, DC: In 2025, leaders of the United States and Pakistan held successful meetings in Washington on several issues of mutual interest, including security, trade and economic relations. This bilateral cooperation will continue and expand in 2026, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, noted in a January 8 discussion with US Congressional Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep Mike Rogers (R-AL) in his Capitol Hill office. “Our focus in the national security perspective is on geoeconomics beyond geopolitics,” the ambassador said.

Drawing attention to the military crisis of May 7-10, 2025, between India and Pakistan, Ambassador Sheikh said that India’s irresponsible and aggressive behavior has posed serious threats to the security situation in the region and the threshold of aggression has been dangerously lowered. The scope of the conflict between the two nuclear-armed states has shifted from conventional warfare to the use of state-of-the-art technology. The use of dual-capacity weapons such as BrahMos missiles in a region with a population of 1.7 billion is of grave concern, the ambassador said, and any decision based on apprehension and misunderstanding could be detrimental to regional peace and security.

India’s aggression last year proved that despite the Modi government’s declared position of supporting peace in the Indo-Pacific, most of its military capability is directed against Pakistan. The ambassador commended US President Donald J Trump’s insight and personal interest in preventing a larger regional crisis.

Ambassador Sheikh reaffirmed the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination, noting it is the fundamental issue between Pakistan and India.

As terrorist incidents in Pakistan increased by 40 percent in 2024 with an additional increase of 25 percent last year due to the activities of militants operating from Afghanistan, the ambassador expressed his deep concern about his country’s peace and security being affected by the continued misuse of modern weapons left behind in Afghanistan by US troops following their withdrawal in August of 2021. He emphasized that a stable, standalone Pakistan-US relationship remained vital to regional as well as global peace, security and stability.

In conclusion, the ambassador and the congressman agreed to establish the process of an institutional and structured dialogue on matters of mutual interest as soon as possible.

(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)