Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Dr Asad Majeed Khan has vowed to expand educational ties with the United States as both countries work on convergence of peace and stability efforts in Afghanistan.
Ambassador Khan said Pakistan can benefit from the high quality of education at American institutions and desires to increase the number of Pakistani students coming to the United States.
“We definitely want to enhance these relations, especially in the field of education” said Ambassador Khan.
Currently, the U.S. and Pakistan cooperate on some educational initiatives launched as part of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue a few years ago, with Washington’s Fulbright program for Pakistan being the biggest in the world.
Photo: USAID
However, Pakistan still lags behind other countries when it comes to the number of students studying at American institutions of higher learning.
Pakistani students have won acclaim for their high caliber of research at American universities.
Ambassador Khan, while speaking to the Pakistani-American community on his first visit to New York, said Islamabad wants to cement thee U.S.-Pakistan relations in wide-ranging areas.
“With the support of Pakistani-Americans, I hope to take our relations with the US to the next level,” he said at the well-attended meeting.
The diplomat said that U.S. and Pakistan see a common interest in securing peace and stability in Afghanistan and that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Imran Khan were working on the same page to bring peace to Afghanistan, wracked by decades of conflict, insurgencies and internal political wrangling.
