WASHINGTON – In a first, US has hinted at addressing the concerns made byPakistan regarding the Afghan war and assured to engage with Pakistan inremoving Pakistan’s concerns.United States has acknowledged that Pakistan had legitimate grievances andthe United States was willing to address those concerns.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central AsiaAlice Wells confirmed on Monday that senior US and Pakistani officials willhold a series of meetings in Washington and Foreign Secretary TehminaJanjua will lead the Pakistani delegation.
“We’re certainly not walking away from Pakistan. There will be veryintensive dialogue through both our military and our civilian channels todiscuss how we can work together,” Ms Wells said and declared that Pakistanhad an important role to play in stabilizing Afghanistan.
Contrary to the popular perception that the suspension of aid to Pakistanwould be effective, the US official conceded that the suspension of USsecurity aid to Pakistan had failed to force Islamabad to change itspolicies.
“We’ve not seen decisive and sustained changes yet in Pakistan’s behavior,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,” said Wells.
It bears mentioning that Secretary Janjua headed to Washington on a crucialvisit earlier this week to mend the frayed relations between the allies.
The current visit is important in the purview of strained tiesbetween Washington and Islamabad, especially after President Trump’sdecision to halt the aid to Pakistan.
Ms Wells said that at the State Department, Secretary Janjua will meetDeputy Secretary John Sullivan, dismissing earlier speculations that thevisitors may only meet junior level officials.
Last week, a senior director for South and Central Asia at the White HouseNational Security Council, Lisa Curtis, visited Islamabad to discuss thebilateral issue and Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism.
Alice Wells told reporters she had been struck by Ghani’s proposalregarding peace talks with Taliban, to let them open office in Kabul.
“I heard him offering a dignified process,” she said.
“This is not a surrender that’s being offered to the Taliban, but adignified process for reaching a political framework,” she added, notingthat the Kabul conference was “really a historic benchmark event.”