*WASHINGTON:* Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States will formallypresent his credentials to President Donald Trump on Friday as relationsbetween the two allies once again show signs of improvement, media *reportslink>*haveinformed.
In March, Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, an investment banker was appointed by thePML-N government as Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States,replacing former foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary.
The US government approved Siddiqui’s appointment in the first week of Mayand on May 29 he assumed his new position. Earlier this week, the US StateDepartment informed the Pakistan Embassy that Siddiqui was scheduled topresent his credentials to President Trump on June 22, along with sevenother ambassadors.
Since governments prefer to hold the credentials ceremony for a bunch ofambassadors a new envoy often has to wait for months, particularly in majorworld capitals like Washington.
However, Siddiqui was fortunate that the list was almost complete when hisname was added to it in the first week of June, allowing him to present hiscredentials just two weeks after submitting his papers.
On Friday, Siddiqui and other ambassadors will gather at the US President’sofficial guest house — Blair House — but will present their credentialsindividually, in alphabetical order. The official ceremony is held acrossthe street, at the White House.
When Siddiqui arrived in Washington relations between the two countrieswere tense, but several positive developments in the last two weeks haveeased the tensions.
The most obvious among them was the rare Eid ceasefire in Afghanistan,which was the result of all players — the Afghan government, Taliban, theUnited States and Pakistan — cooperating together.
Although it was Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who initiated the ceasefiretwo weeks ago, Pakistan played a quiet but effective role in convincing theTaliban to accept the offer.
Apparently, the United States is using the military channel to communicatewith Pakistan. So, no one in Washington was surprised when Pakistan’s armychief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa made a high-profile visit to Kabul last week todiscuss the prospects of a durable peace with President Ghani.
Diplomatic sources in Washington say that Pakistan has been involved inthis initiative from the very beginning, as has been the United States.
But their involvement became public knowledge only when US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo telephoned Gen Bajwa on June 8 to discuss the “need forpolitical reconciliation in Afghanistan”, as a statement issued by hisoffice said. A day later, US Vice President Mike Pence telephoned caretakerPrime Minister Nasirul Mulk and also stressed this point.