Washington DC : Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, Vedant Patel on Thursday (local time) said that the US is committed to maintaining the global nonproliferation regime.
Patel was commenting on Pakistan's criticism of US's latest sanctions on the former. "Let's take a step back. The US is committed to maintaining the global nonproliferation regime, and Pakistan is an important partner in that. However, we have been clear and consistent about our concerns with Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile program. It is longstanding US policy to deny support to Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile program," he said.
Patel further said that the US Department of State will continue to use tools like sanctions to protect its national security.
"The Department of State will continue to use sanctions and other tools to protect our national security and ensure that US exporters and US financial systems cannot be abused by proliferators. And it's our hope to continue to engage constructively with the Pakistani Government on these issues," he said.
Patel added that these sanctions were not targeted at any other program in Pakistan, but the one that threatened the US."So these designations are based on our concerns regarding Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile program, but they don't affect other areas of US-Pakistan areas of cooperation... These sanctions are in place because of our longstanding concern about Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile program," Patel said.
Pakistan termed the US decision to impose sanctions on NDC and three commercial entities as "unfortunate and biased" and said it defied the objective of peace and security, ARY News reported.
"Pakistan considers the US decision to impose sanctions on NDC and three commercial entities as unfortunate and biased," according to a Foreign Office statement issued on late Wednesday night, ARY News quoted.
"Pakistan's strategic capabilities are meant to defend its sovereignty and preserve peace and stability in South Asia. The latest installment of sanctions defies the objective of peace and security by aiming to accentuate military asymmetries. Such policies have dangerous implications for strategic stability of our region and beyond," the Foreign Office statement said.
The US sanctioned four entities that were contributing to Pakistan's Ballistic Missile Program on Wednesday (local time). The State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller announced that the US has been consistent about their concerns.