Counter-terrorism a priority area of cooperation with Pak : US

Washington: As Nawaz Sharif prepares to be sworn in as the next Prime Minister of the country, US has said that cooperation in counter-terrorism activities is among its top priorities when it comes to Pakistan.  "Issues like counter-terrorism and energy are top priorities, but we have a wide range of assistance and a wide-ranging partnership that we have with the Government of Pakistan," said the State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell. The United States, he said, is looking forward to work with this new government. “You’re all aware of the history that we’ve had over the previous years, but this is a new government that’s coming into place and we look forward to working with them collaboratively as they get their government set up and have this peaceful, democratic transition of power, which we think is really a historic marker in terms of transitioning from one democratically elected government to another,” Ventrell said yesterday. “We look forward to engaging on issues of mutual concern and where we can cooperate on things that both of our countries have in common and can work on,” he said. “So we’ll continue to work on those priorities, but certainly counter-terrorism is one of the major areas, but we have civilian assistance in a range of other areas that are important to us.” Ventrell said. PTI