FLORIDA: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Asim Munir called on Gen Michael Erik Kurilla, the commander of the US Central Command (Centcom), and discussed cooperation in regional security matters, the military’s media affairs wing said on Tuesday.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army chief met the Centcom chief during a visit to Headquarters Central Command at Tampa Bay, Florida.
“During the meeting, matters of shared interests, particularly cooperation in regional security matters came under discussion,” it said.
“Both sides discussed avenues of joint training and reiterated the need for enhancing training interactions between Centcom and the Pakistan Army,” the ISPR said, adding that the COAS also visited Centcom Joint Operations Center during the visit.
The army chief landed in Washington last week on his first official visit to the US. Last week, Gen Munir met key government officials including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defence (retired) General Llyod J. Austin, Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown.
Bilateral interests, global and regional security issues, and ongoing conflicts were discussed during the meetings.
The COAS also held a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday during which he reaffirmed Pakistan’s stance on Palestine. He had also urged the UN Security Council to mobilise the international community for an immediate halt to hostilities in Gaza, preventing a humanitarian tragedy.
Furthermore, Gen Munir interacted with the Pakistani diaspora last week at a community dinner hosted by the Pakistan embassy in Washington. Among the attendees were individuals of diverse influence: investors, physicians, IT professionals, engineers, university professors, financial experts, and economists.
In his address at the gathering, the army chief had urged Pakistani Americans to invest in their homeland through the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and assured them it “offers complete security”.
Pakistan major non-Nato ally of US: State Dept
Meanwhile, during a news briefing in Washington on Monday, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said Pakistan was a “major non-Nato ally of the United States and a Nato partner”.
“We look forward to partnering with them on regional security and defence cooperation,” he said in response to a question on the army chief’s meeting with Secretary Blinken.
“[…] As you know, he [COAS Munir] was in Washington to meet with a number of officials, including officials here at the State Department, including officials at the Pentagon and elsewhere,” Miller said.
To another query on the upcoming general elections in Pakistan, the spokesperson said the US continued to support free and fair elections in the country.
“[We] engage with Pakistan on a bilateral basis to discuss our support for free and fair elections. As I’ve said before, we don’t take a position as it comes to … when it comes to political parties in Pakistan, and we will engage with the leaders that the Pakistani people select,” Miller added.
