Khalilzad does not speak for Biden administration: US State Dept official.

State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel has clarified that former US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad did not represent the country's foreign policy and did not speak for the administration of President Joe Biden.

Patel's statement came in response to a question asked during a press briefing on Monday (March 27) about Khalilzad's recent statement regarding the political situation in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Khalilzad - who had served as the special envoy for Afghan reconciliation under both the Trump and Biden administrations - had said that Pakistan was 'underperforming and falling far behind' India.

'Pakistan faces a triple crisis: political, economic, and security. Despite great potential, it is underperforming and falling far behind its archrival, India. It is time for serious soul-searching, bold thinking, and strategising,' he had remarked.

The former US ambassador had also criticised Pakistan for jailing its political leaders - particularly hinting at the recent police attempts to arrest PTI Chairman Imran Khan - and had proposed 'two steps' to deal with the country's challenges the first being to set a date...