• US President Joe Biden remarked that Pakistan is 'one of the most dangerous countries' with 'nuclear weapons without reconciliation'.
ISLAMABAD: US President Joe Biden's remark that Pakistan is "one of the most dangerous nations" to have "nuclear weapons without any coherence", faced severe backlash from political leaders of the Asian country, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Following the developments, the Pakistan government is set to summon US Ambassador Donald Blom to issue a demarcation.
President Joe Biden made the remarks at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the Pakistan government would summon US Ambassador Donald Blom to issue and pass an official diplomatic protest letter to the US government following President Biden's remarks.
Addressing the news conference, Bilawal said, "We will call their ambassador and issue a demarcation, but I don't think it was an official ceremony [...] According to Dawn
The White House quoted Biden as saying, "And I think probably one of the most dangerous countries in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons with no reconciliation."
The remarks on Pakistan were made when Biden was talking about US foreign policy with respect to China and Vladimir Putin's Russia. Biden concluded by saying that he considers Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world.
"This is a guy (Xi Jinping) who understands what he wants, but he has a huge, huge array of problems. How do we handle it? How do we handle that relative of what's happening in Russia? and What I think is probably one of the most dangerous countries in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without reconciliation," Biden said in a White House press release, citing his remarks at the Democratic Party event.
Addressing the conference at Bilawal House in Karachi today, the External Affairs Minister said that Pakistan's nuclear assets "meet every international standard as per IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as far as safety and security is concerned". .
"I am shocked by President Biden's remarks [...] I believe this is exactly the kind of misunderstanding that arises when there is a lack of engagement."
According to Dawn, Bilawal said that Pakistan has embarked on a "journey of engagement" and marked the 75th anniversary of bilateral ties with the US.
“If it was a concern like this, I think it would have been raised in that meeting with me, I believe we have just started our engagement journey and we have a lot to do with America. And there will be many more opportunities to allay any concerns. He may have had misconceptions about this specific question," Bilawal was quoted as saying by Dawn.
Bilawal, however, said he does not think it negatively impacts the relationship between Pakistan and the US. But even so, Biden's remarks can be seen as a setback to the Shehbaz Sharif government's effort to improve relations with the US.
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