WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday firmly denied reports that its officials during a visit to Islamabad discussed the possibility of cooperation in civil nuclear energy with Pakistan, but said Washington backs the South Asian country's efforts to overcome its energy problems.
"We've seen those rumours, but I can confirm there was no discussion of civilian nuclear technology," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in response to a question about a Pakistani news media that the President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Elizabeth Littlefield, discussed with Pakistani officials cooperation in civil nuclear technology.
"For further discussions, I'd direct you to the government of Pakistan and OPIC, which is the government agency on our side. But there was no discussion of civil nuclear technology," Ventrell added. "I can confirm there's no discussion of it here. I don't have anything for you on it. But broadly speaking, you know that we've been supportive of efforts with Pakistan's energy problems, and much of the aid that the US has provided and the expertise and technology and know-how. But I don't have anything for you on that," he said.
NO KNOWLEDGE ABOUT TTP PRESENCE IN SYRIA, SAYS UN: The United Nations does not have any information about reports that Pakistani Taliban have deployed militants in Syria to fighting alongside rebels in the battle to topple President Bashar al-Assad, but that it remains concerned about the nature of the fighting there, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
"I think it is quite difficult for the UN to make such a determination because we don't have a monitoring mechanism to keep track of those involved in the fighting there," he said.
But the spokesman said the UN remained concerned -- generally -- about the nature of the fighting in Syria.
Taliban commanders in Pakistan claimed on Sunday that they decided to join the cause in Syria in order to fight alongside their “Mujahideen friends.”
On Monday, a State Department spokesman said that claims about the dispatch of Taliban were being investigated.