US hopes talks on full range of subjects during Khar-Clinton meetings

State department spokesperson says both sides hope to to build upon the recent high-level contacts.

WASHINGTON:
The State Department on Tuesday said that the United States and Pakistan will cover the entire range of subjects when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar hold talks on Friday.

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that the two sides will look to build upon the recent high-level contacts between the two countries.

“I am expecting that the full range of issues we have withPakistan, bilateral and regional, will be covered including our continuing effort to get our counterterrorism activities back up and running fully,” Nuland noted. The Friday meeting between the two diplomats will be their fourth having previously met inPakistan,Tokyo and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York last year.


“They have a working relationship together. They have both rolled up their sleeves to try to stabilise and strengthen the relationship. I think this is going to be a good opportunity for them to take stock of where we are, and continue to try to move forward,” Nuland said.

Referring to Marc Grossman's recent visit to Islamabad, the spokesperson said, “He (Grossman) covered as well the full range of issues (in meetings with Pakistani leaders) and obviously he reported to the secretary and we will try to build on that conversation going forward.”

In answer to a question about the security cooperation between Pakistan and the United States in the face of massive protests in front of US missions in Pakistan, the spokesperson said the security cooperation has been quite good.

Khar arrived in Washington on Tuesday morning where, a Pakistani embassy official said, she was greeted by Ambassador Sherry Rehman and senior officials of the embassy.
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