WASHINGTON : Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tahmina Janjua has emphasized theimportance of structural dialogue between Pakistan and USA to continueefforts against terrorism.
Talking to journalists at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, TahminaJanjua termed Pak-US alliance against Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groupsas successful.
The Foreign Secretary said maintaining relations with Pakistan is asimportant for the United States as are Islamabad’s linkages with itsWestern ally.
Highlighting Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism and extremism, shestressed on regional cooperation and integration as a bulwark againstterrorist elements. She said that CPEC is a part of the grand One Belt, OneRoad project that aims to knit the region in a cohesive unit in order to doaway with mutual differences.
The US wishes to continue talks with Pakistan, said the Foreign Secretary,who is on a crucial visit to Washington as part of an attempt by bothstates to work together.
Earlier in the day, Alice Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretaryof State, had said: “I think we’re in the beginning of a process with thePakistani Government.
“We have a series of high-level exchanges, Foreign Secretary Janjua will behere in Washington for meetings tomorrow. … There will be a very intensivedialogue through both our military and our civilian channels to discuss howwe can work together.
“We’re certainly not walking away from Pakistan,” she had stressed.
Asked if Washington had noticed any improvements in Pakistan’s behaviour interms of terrorism and militancy, Wells said the US had “not seen decisiveand sustained changes yet”.
“But certainly, we are continuing to engage with Pakistan over areas wherewe think they can play a helpful role in changing the calculus of theTaliban,” she had said.