Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Masood Khan meets President Biden; discuss ways to build stronger bilateral ties

Pakistans newly appointed Ambassador to the US Masood Khan has met US President Joe Biden at the White House and discussed ways on building a strong basis for taking bilateral ties between the two countries forward. Khan visited the White House for a meet and greet with President Biden, an established tradition for newly-appointed envoys, according to the Pakistan Embassy in the US.

Pakistan’s newly appointed Ambassador to the US Masood Khan has met US President Joe Biden at the White House and discussed ways to “building a strong basis for taking bilateral ties between the two countries forward.” Khan visited the White House for a “meet and greet” with President Biden, an established tradition for newly-appointed envoys, according to the Pakistan Embassy in the US. “The US President and the Ambassador had a brief conversation on building a strong basis for moving the US-Pakistan ties forward,” the statement said. Ambassador Khan was sent to Washington in March this year by the previous Imran Khan regime amidst lukewarm bilateral ties, especially under the Biden administration. Following the ouster of prime minister Khan in April, there was some confusion about whether it would impact Masood Khan's appointment. But on April 19, Khan received an official communique from the Chief of Protocol at the US State Department, endorsing his appointment as Pakistan’s ‘Working Ambassador’ in Washington. There were Ambassadors from 46 other countries who were present on Tuesday for a photo-op with President Biden. The conversation took place amidst a chill in bilateral ties between Islamabad and Washington after Khan, the 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, claimed that he was ousted from power two months ago through an alleged US-backed vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly. Khan has claimed that he was ousted because Washington did not like his Russian policy and he went on to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the same day when the Russian President ordered a special military operation against Ukraine.

These claims were strongly refuted by the US.

The new Pakistan government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made the initial high-level contact with the Biden administration last month.

In May, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with his new Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in New York.

Blinken said he was ''very pleased'' to be working with foreign minister Bilawal and with a new government in Pakistan. He added that ''this is an important opportunity'' for the US and Pakistan to ''talk about the many issues where we’re working together.'' 

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