ISLAMABAD, June 21: The United States publicly acknowledged on Friday the constructive role played by Pakistan in bringing Taliban and the US administration closer to reconciliation and said it wanted to continue its partnership with Islamabad beyond withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan next year.

“We are working closely with Pakistan. Pakistan played a constructive role in opening of Taliban office in Doha. This is a big step and we greatly appreciate Pakistan’s support,” said US Ambassador Richard Olson while briefing reporters ahead of the US-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference to be held in Dubai from June 25 to 26. He said the US government had not yet decided whether to continue with Coalition Support Fund (CSF) disbursements to Pakistan after withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan next year. About CSF dues, he said the US administration had received requests for reimbursements for July-September period and was expeditiously processing (the requests).

He said the US had a long-term interest in Pakistan and would like to have partnership for 2050 and beyond, contrary to common perception that the US interest would recede with looming withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in 2014.

He said the US was encouraging multilateral agencies to extending financial support for $14 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam project.

Besides supporting various stages of the project, including preparation of feasibility studies, the US was putting together a financing package for it, he said.

“We have made funding available for the project and we are working very closely with multilateral agencies”, the ambassador said, adding that it was not advisable at this stage to talk about the exact US funding.

About reluctance of multilateral agencies, particularly the World Bank, to support the project because of Indian objections, Mr Olson said: “This is not the foremost issue facing the project but financing package is the key.”

“We are also setting up equity funds for public-private partnership for development in Pakistan that normally have life cycles of 10 years”, he said. “This shows that we would not like these funds to go waste.”

He said it was against this background that Pakistan and the US were trying to define future of relations on trade and not just aid.

He said the Dubai business conference would have high-level participation from both the governments, including Pakistan’s ministers for finance, energy and planning and senior officials of the US state department, USAID, special trade representatives and Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

He was confident that the conference would open up new avenues of trade opportunities for Pakistani companies in the US market and investment and financing opportunities for US companies in Pakistan which had a great potential hitherto unexplored by private sector of the two countries.

Answering a question, Ambassador Olson said Pakistan was faced with a serious energy challenge and the US was closely working with it by contributing to projects like Guddu, Jamshoro, Muzaffargarh and other powerhouses and Satpara, Gomal Zam, Mangla and Tarbela dams.

About nuclear energy, he said the issue was complicated and the US and Pakistan had been engaged in a dialogue but he would like the discussions to remain within the ambit of diplomatic channels.

He said it was also not true that US-supported initiatives like Friends of Democratic Pakistan, CASA-1000 project aimed at import of electricity from Central Asian states and Turkmenistan-Pakistan Gas Pipeline were not progressing well. “The progress is going on,” he said.