Bilateral relations: Pakistan, US to resume strategic talks next month

US ambassador invites Nisar to chair first meeting of the process in Washington.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan and United States are likely to hold the first round of their renewed strategic dialogue starting next month in Washington, interior ministry officials said on Friday.

Officials said the round will comprise several meetings and will continue from October 2013 to January 2014. The dialogue seeks to build the capacity of Pakistan’s civil armed forces to counter terrorism in the region, the officials added.

To discuss the agenda for the talks, US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson met Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in Islamabad on Friday. An official statement said “Olson invited the interior minister to chair the meeting of the strategic dialogue likely to be held in the US next month.”

However, the meeting between Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and US Secretary of State John Kerry in January will be the most crucial one, sources in the interior ministry said.

During his meeting with Olson, Nisar said Pakistan intended to further its relations with the US in a transparent manner and with mutual respect and understanding, the statement said. Various aspects of the strategic dialogue, including the working group on counter terrorism, were also discussed in the meeting.

The interior minister also told the American diplomat that Pakistan will not hesitate to seek institutional support in the form of counter-terrorism training programmes, intelligence sharing and infrastructural support for the civil armed forces in case of urgency.

The ambassador said that Pakistan can benefit from the experience of the US in strengthening its security and offered all kind of institutional support in this respect. Different aspects of fresh peace initiative launched by the government of Pakistan to establish durable peace in the region, including the resolution of the all parties conference, were also discussed in the meeting, the statement added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2013.