Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project: A Bad Idea – US State Department

Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project: A Bad Idea – US State Department

US State Department has once again urged Pakistan not to go ahead with the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline project and its spokesperson, Victoria Nuland has said that the US is considering giving Pakistan different options in order to overcome the energy crisis without
the help of Iran.

Pakistan is going through a poor situation at the moment due to shortage of electricity and gas. Iran has been offering its assistance to Pakistan in this regard since long but the US never encouraged its ally in the war against terror to go ahead with the
project.

Iran is currently facing massive economic sanctions because of its nuclear program and there may be a potential attack on Iran in future by the western forces.

However, President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari made it clear yesterday that Pakistan is going to go ahead with the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline project as the country is in dire need of assistance in the energy sector.

This statement by the President is not liked by the US State Department as the spokesperson said that it is not a good decision on part of Pakistan. She claimed that the US is trying to assist Pakistan to overcome its energy crisis.

Nuland said, “We’re also talking to Pakistan about these issues, and our view with regard to this pipeline hasn’t changed. We think it’s a bad idea and we’re continuing to talk to Pakistan about that. We are working with Pakistan as we’re working with countries
around the world on other ways to meet their energy needs,”

While talking about the deteriorating relations with Pakistan after the Salala check-post incident, Nuland said that the ball is in Pakistan’s court if it wants to get over the incident which occurred unintentionally.

“We’re not going to be able to make any decisions about where we might go until Pakistan itself completes its internal review that is still ongoing and until we have a chance to consult directly with Pakistan,” she added.

Nuland further added that Pakistan has a massive role to play in the future of Afghanistan and the US is keeping Pakistan on board regarding the Afghanistan issue and its future scenario.

The spokesperson expressed, “We have long said that we would hope that Pakistan would continue to support the process of Afghans reconciling with each other. We have kept the Pakistani government briefed.”

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=12183

Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 9 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry