According to DG ISPR Major-General Asim Bajwa, Gen Sharif gave Pakistan’s perspective on regional security, improving Pakistan-Afghanistan military relations. Indian aggression along the Line of Control (LoC) during frank discussions on all issues.
Gen Raheel, currently on a tour of the US, was accompanied by Director General Military Operations as well as Maj-Gen Bajwa at the US military base where they were received with military guard of honour.
Tampa/US:Gen #Raheel gave Pak perspective on regional security,improving Pak Afgn mil relation.Indian aggression along LOC also discussed2/4
— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) November 17, 2014
#COAS in US:Tampa,Frank discussions on all issues.DGMO,DGISPR accompanied Gen Raheel.Focus on regional security,stability-3/4
— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) November 17, 2014
#COAS in US:Gen Austin paid tributes to Pak Army for its commitment,professionalism,achievement in fight against terror,Praised ZarbeAzb-4/4
— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) November 17, 2014
Gen Sharif's trip comes against the backdrop of improved relations between the two governments with Washington encouraged by Pakistan's offensive against militants in the tribal areas.
According to US officials, Gen Sharif is scheduled to meet a host of high rankning US defense officials during his tour. The Army Chief, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, is scheduled to meet the US Army chief General Ray Odierno, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey and the deputy defense secretary Robert Work, over the next two days.
This is Gen Sharif's first trip to the United States since he took over as COAS in November 2013. It is also the first US visit of any Pakistani army chief since 2010.
Gen Sharif's predecessor, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, had an often tense relationship with Washington amid accusations Islamabad was failing to take action against Haqqani extremists and other insurgents based in Pakistan that orchestrate attacks on American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
A senior US officer in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson, told reporters this month that the military operations in North Waziristan had "fractured" the Haqqani network.
The campaign "has very much disrupted their efforts here and has caused them to be less effective in terms of their ability to pull off an attack here in Kabul," Anderson said by video link from Kabul.
US officials are also hopeful that a new president in Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, can bolster cooperation and dialogue between Kabul and Islamabad, just as NATO's US-led force withdraws from the fight against the Taliban.
Ghani traveled to Pakistan last week for talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai routinely accused Pakistan of backing the Taliban insurgency to destabilise his country as a hedge against Indian influence there.
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