Remarks
Secretary of State
SECRETARY POMPEO: (In progress) well as General Bajwa in a number of settings. We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum – economic, business, and commercial, the work that we all know that we need to do to try and develop a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan, which benefits certainly Afghanistan but also the United States and Pakistan. And I’m hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward.
GENERAL DUNFORD: And my job was to help support the Secretary as he – as he sought to reset the relationship. When we talked to General Bajwa on the military-to-military level, we agreed that – we listened to the prime minister very carefully, we listened to the Secretary very carefully. Their objectives were very consistent between the Secretary and the prime minister, and General Bajwa and I agreed that we will leverage the military-to-military relationship to support the Secretary and the prime minister, and more importantly, President Trump’s South Asia strategy.
MS NAUERT: Take a couple of questions.
QUESTION: Did you get any firm commitments from the Pakistanis that would potentially merit the resumption of military security assistance? Do you think they are a reliable partner going forward?
SECRETARY POMPEO: So we’ve still got a long way to go, lots more discussion to be had, but the relationship military to military is one that has remained in a place where some of the other relationships haven’t, frankly. They’ve still continued to have relationships, worked on lots of projects that are important together, and I hope we can use that as one of the foundational elements as well.
QUESTION: Will the GLOCs continue to stay open? Did the Pakistanis raise the issue of GLOC access?
GENERAL DUNFORD: We don’t – we don’t have any reason to indicate that our cooperation in keeping the GLOCs open is going to change. That’s —
MS NAUERT: Let’s do a last question.
QUESTION: Was there any kind of U.S. warning of increased punitive action that financially sanctions against certain Pakistani individuals delivered during these talks that – if they don’t change their behavior, there’s next steps?
SECRETARY POMPEO: We made clear to them that – and they agreed – it’s time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitments, right. So we’ve had lots of times where we’ve talked and made agreements, but we haven’t been able to actually execute those. And so there was broad agreement between myself and Foreign Minister Qureshi, as well as with the prime minister, that we need to begin to do things that will begin to actually, on the ground, deliver outcomes so that we can begin to build confidence and trust between the two countries. That was the focus of the gathering.
MS NAUERT: All right. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thanks.
QUESTION: Thanks for doing this.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thanks, everybody.
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