Pakistan, US to pursue ‘shared objective of peace’

Alice Wells holds talks with finance minister, foreign ministry officials


Our Correspondent November 06, 2018
Alice G Wells. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad and Washington on Tuesday agreed to continue efforts to promote ‘shared objectives of peace and stability’ in the region and ‘diversify’ bilateral relationship.

The understanding was reached during a day-long visit of Ambassador Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.  She called on the Finance Minister Asad Umar and also held delegation level talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Delegation level talks were led by Aftab Khokher, additional secretary (Americas) from the Pakistan side. Senior officials from Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence also attended the meeting.

The meeting took stock of the understanding reached between the Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to rebuild the relationship based on mutual trust and respect, said a statement issued by the foreign office.

The Pakistani side laid emphasis on diversifying relationship between the two countries with particular focus on enhanced economic and trade cooperation and people to people contacts, the statement said.

Evolving regional situation and peace and stability in Afghanistan were also discussed. The US delegation appreciated the need to strengthen the bilateral relationship with Pakistan which, it said, is an important country of the region. The two sides agreed to continue efforts to promote the shared objectives of peace and stability in the region and diversify bilateral relationship.

Official sources said the two sides were still struggling to find a common ground on Afghan endgame. The US wants Pakistan to either deny the Taliban leaders any safe haven or persuade them to come to the negotiating table.

Islamabad, however, denies that it is providing any sanctuary to the Taliban and emphasises that bringing the Taliban to negotiating table is a shared responsibility of all the stakeholders.

Pakistan recently released a key Taliban commander, something that is seen as part of a renewed push for Afghan peace deal. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was number two in Taliban hierarchy when he was arrested in a joint Pakistan-US operation from Karachi in 2010.

Both the US and Afghanistan had been urging Pakistan to release the influential commander in order to help jumpstart the moribund peace process.   Last month, Afghan special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad reportedly met the Afghan Taliban representatives in Doha.

Meanwhile, Russia is hosting talks on the Afghan peace later this week in Moscow. The US and Afghanistan, however, decided to stay away from the meeting.

A Pakistani official said a senior diplomat would represent the country at the Moscow talks. He, however, did not pin great hopes on the talks given the fact that key stakeholders are not attending its.

 

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