WASHINGTON – United States Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southand Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells has revealed the mood inside Trumpadministration over failure to bring Taliban to negotiations table and roleof Pakistan.
She said President Donald Trump was ‘disappointed’ after no headway wasmade with Pakistan over negotiations with the Taliban.
“The US president had directed that we work together with Pakistan to bringTaliban to the negotiating table, however he was disappointed after noheadway was made,” she told a private TV channel.
“We have still not found a way to work more closely with Pakistan to ensureTaliban come to the negotiation table,” she said. “I can assure you throughmy own efforts that we are always looking for opportunities to strengthenour relationships,” she said, but asserted, “These set of issues willcontinue to be important.”
Regarding Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo’s scheduled meeting in Washington, Wells said, “They willdiscuss important points regarding strong partnership.
The most important issue between the two countries is how to work onbilateral relations.” Wells said, “There are investment opportunities inenergy and other sectors in Pakistan and US is looking forward tostrengthening its trading ties.”