Among others, the three-day Pak-US strategic dialogue, scheduled to start on October 20, will be attended by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
The army chief will leave for Washington on Tuesday, a military official said.
Over the weekend, the top civil and military leadership finalised the country’s strategy for talks. They will focus on education, agriculture, energy, and more importantly, on security issues between the two countries.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, said that the talks were aimed at removing misunderstandings between the two countries.
Officials say that Islamabad will raise the issue of the implications of increased drone attacks in the tribal areas, early reimbursement of coalition support funds’ arrears and legislation on Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs).
The issue of going after the Haqqani network in North Waziristan is expected to figure prominently in the strategic talks. Official sources say Pakistan will not give a timeline for launching a military operation in North Waziristan where Americans say the network is based.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates recently urged Pakistan to go after militants in North Waziristan, while Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said that the Pakistan Army pledged to eliminate the Haqqani network from the tribal belt.
But Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit said that the decision to launch an offensive in North Waziristan would be taken based on “our own judgment, priorities and the national interest”.
Military officials say they need huge resources to sustain such an operation, as the army is already overstretched in six tribal agencies and its participation in the relief activities in the recent flood made it even harder to open another front.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2010.
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