Pakistan is seeking a “civilised” and “even-handed” relationship with Washington like the one that existed between the US and the UK or with India “right now”, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, underlining the role Islamabad could play in the region.

Khan made the comments during an interview with The New York Times in which he also expressed his disappointment that his bid to normalise ties with India did not make any progress though he approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after assuming office in August 2018.

In the interview that comes as US President Joe Biden had his first face-to-face meeting with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani at the White House on Friday, Khan recalled that Pakistan has had a closer relationship with the US than other nations in the region, such as India, and was a US partner in the war against terrorism, Dawn newspaper reported.

“Now, after the US leaves Afghanistan, basically Pakistan would want a civilised relationship, which you have between nations, and we would like to improve our trading relationship with the US,” he said.

Asked to elaborate his concept of a civilised relationship, Khan said he was seeking relations like the one that existed “between the US and Britain, or between US and India right now”.