ISLAMABAD: Spokesman to the Foreign Office, Nafees Zakaria Friday said United States (US) considered Pakistan as an important country of the region.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had held important meetings on sideline of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session with high ranked officials of various countries, he said talking to PTV. The PM’s meeting with Vice President of United States was very important, and both the countries wanted to engage each other, he said.

Pakistan had played a key role in assisting Afghanistan both financially and domestically. He said Pakistan had been hosting huge number of Afghan refugees for decades which put heavy burden on our economy.

More than one million Afghan students were studying in Pakistani institutions and many had gone back after getting education, he said. Nafees Zakaria said there were no safe havens of terrorists in Pakistan and we had rejected the allegations in this regard.

He said, Afghanistan was the country where these safe havens existed. He added that Afghan government did not have its control on its 40 percent area.  The spokesman said Indian activities in Afghanistan had been shared with Afghan and US government with proper evidence.

Confessional statement of Kulbhushan Jadhav was also an evidence in this regard. Pakistan had been holding high-level meetings with Afghanistan for establishing better relations and moving ahead for resolving issues, he said.

To a question, he said Pakistan bear huge significance with regard to its geographical location as it play key role for regional connectivity.