White House Says it Is Watching Pakistan Events ‘with Concern’

Pakistani laborers prepare a 200-feet-long flag at the park ahead of Independence Day celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan, 09 August 2023. (EPA)
Pakistani laborers prepare a 200-feet-long flag at the park ahead of Independence Day celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan, 09 August 2023. (EPA)
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White House Says it Is Watching Pakistan Events ‘with Concern’

Pakistani laborers prepare a 200-feet-long flag at the park ahead of Independence Day celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan, 09 August 2023. (EPA)
Pakistani laborers prepare a 200-feet-long flag at the park ahead of Independence Day celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan, 09 August 2023. (EPA)

The United States is watching "with concern" events in Pakistan, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told a briefing on Wednesday.

Kirby made his remarks after being asked about the situation in Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Imran Khan was recently imprisoned and there has been a spike in militant attacks.

"We're obviously concerned about any actions, particularly violent actions, that can contribute to instability in Pakistan or frankly any other country with whom we share a set of common interests when it comes to counterterrorism, so we're watching it with concern," he said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he would advise the president to dissolve parliament late on Wednesday, setting the stage for a national election as the country grapples with political and economic crises.

"Pakistan is a partner, particularly when it comes to the counterterrorism threat in that part of the world. And we have every expectation that they will remain so," Kirby said.

The State Department said on Monday that the arrest of Khan, a critic of the United States, was an internal matter and declined to take a position on his legal troubles. 



Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)

Top advisers to US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump put aside their differences - mostly - for a symbolic "passing of the torch" event focused on national security issues on Tuesday.

Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan passed a ceremonial baton to US Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for the same job, in a revival of a Washington ritual organized by the nonpartisan United States Institute of Peace since 2001.

The two men are normally in the media defending their bosses' opposing views on Ukraine, the Middle East and China.

On Tuesday, Waltz and Sullivan politely searched for common ground on a panel designed to project the continuity of power in the United States.

"It's like a very strange, slightly awkward version of 'The Dating Game,' you know the old game where you wrote down your answer, and that person wrote down their answer, and you see how much they match up," said Sullivan.

The event offered a preview of what may be in store on Monday when Trump is inaugurated as president. This peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of more than two centuries of American democracy, comes four years after Trump disputed and never conceded his loss in the 2020 election.

This time the two sides are talking. Sullivan, at Biden's request, has briefed Waltz privately, at length, on the current administration's policy around the world even as the Trump aide has regularly said the new team will depart radically from it.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden's envoy Brett McGurk are working together this week to close a ceasefire deal in the region for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Asked about the key challenges facing the new administration, Waltz and Sullivan on Tuesday both pointed to the California wildfires and China.

Sullivan also highlighted a hostage deal and artificial intelligence as key issues.

Waltz pointed to the US border with Mexico, an area where Trump has ripped Biden's approach.

But he credited the Biden administration with deepening ties between US allies in Asia.

For all the bonhomie between the two men, and the talk of the prospects for peace in the Middle East, Waltz painted a picture of the grimmer decisions awaiting him in his new job.

"Evil does exist," he said. "Sometimes you just have to put bombs on foreheads."