Gen Qamar to meet US defence secretary, army chief at Pentagon: DG ISPR

Army chief will also meet General Mark Milley, who recently said the US needs strong military ties with Pakistan

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa will meet the acting US defence secretary and top commanders of the US military in his visit to the Pentagon on Monday.

This was announced by DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet on Sunday evening.

COAS at Washington, DC. On 22 July 19, after the meeting at White House as part of Prime Minister’s delegation, COAS will visit Pentagon to interact with Acting Secretary Defence Mr. Richard Spencer, CJCS Gen Joseph Dunford and Chief of Staff of US Army Gen Mark A Milley.

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) July 22, 2019

His tweet was a follow up to his remarks to reporters in Washington earlier when he announced that the army chief would be visiting Pentagon but did not disclose who General Qamar would be meeting.

The army spokesperson said the COAS will interact with acting US Secretary Defence Richard Spencer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Joseph Dunford, and the Chief of Staff of US Army General Mark A Milley.

General Qamar will visit Pentagon to meet US military leadership: DG ISPR

Maj Gen Ghafoor had previously confirmed that General Qamar would also be attending Prime Minister Imran Khan's meeting with President Trump.

General Qamar's meetings hold greater significance in the backdrop of General Milley's recent assertion that the US needs to maintain strong military ties with Islamabad due to the shared interests of the two countries.

General Milley, who is President Donald Trump's pick to replace General Dunford as the US military chief, told a US Senate Armed Services Committee that his "objective will be to preserve the defence relationship between the United States and Pakistan even as we press Pakistan to take action on US requests."

“While we have suspended security assistance and paused major defence dialogues, we need to maintain strong military-to-military ties based on our shared interests,” he said.