ISLAMABAD – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that he washopeful of resetting the troubled relationship with Pakistan, a key playerin the Afghan conflict, after cordial meetings in Islamabad including withnew premier Imran Khan.
The former CIA director, making his first visit as top US diplomat toPakistan, told pool reporters shortly before leaving Islamabad that the‘broad spectrum’ of topics discussed included efforts ‘to develop apeaceful resolution in Afghanistan.’
“I’m hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditionsfor continued success,” he said.
Pompeo said that ahead of the trip that it was time to turn the page andsuggested that the election of Imran Khan, who has vowed to seek betterrelations with the US, could provide a fresh impetus.
Imran and his foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were also positive,according to pool reports. “A sportsman always is an optimist,” the formercricketer, who captained Pakistan to World Cup victory in 1992, was quotedas saying when asked about finding a new way forward with Washington.
“He steps on the field and he thinks he’s going to win.” Qureshi,meanwhile, described his meeting with Pompeo as “excellent”.
Pompeo, who was later joined by General Joe Dunford, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, had also been scheduled to meet Pakistan’s powerful armychief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
In comments made before the trip, Pompeo said that in his conversationswith Khan they had agreed that peace in Afghanistan was a “shared goal”.
Pompeo also confirmed that Zalmay Khalilzad, a high-profile former USambassador to Kabul, Baghdad and the United Nations, would be appointed tolead peace efforts in Afghanistan.
“Ambassador Khalilzad is going to join the State Department team to assistus in the reconciliation effort, so he will come on and be the StateDepartment’s lead person for that purpose,” he said.
Pompeo spent just a few hours in Pakistan before travelling on to NewDelhi, where he will be joined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to meettheir Indian counterparts on a range of defence and trade issues. – APP/AFP