ISLAMABAD: A senior US diplomat is scheduled to hold talks with the Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Tuesday (today) on the issues of bilateral interest, especially focusing on Pakistan’s role in reconciliation with the Afghan Taliban.
US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells will hold a meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during her one-day trip to Pakistan, Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Faisal said. “The aim of the visit is to follow up on discussions held between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo with a view to further strengthening the bilateral relations,” he said in a tweet.
Ambassador Wells will also call on Finance Minister Asad Umer where she will be briefed about the financial situation of the country, with special focus on Islamabad’s plan to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to seek a bailout package.
Ambassador Wells is visiting Pakistan days after her visit to Kabul where she met President Ashraf Ghani and other officials. During the meeting, President Ghani demanded that the US sanctions must not hit the Iranian Chahbahar port, which Afghanistan is now using for import of Indian goods, according to the presidential palace. Wells also met National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib and discussed matters related to peace and security.
Wells had met Taliban political envoys in Qatar in late July in the first direct talks, followed by US Special Representative on Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad’s meeting in the first week of October.
The US and Taliban have agreed to continue talks, however no date has been decided for the next meeting. Taliban officials say both sides have focused on certain measures before the launch of official talks, which include the release of prisoners, reopening of Taliban office in Qatar and lifting of UN travel ban on senior Taliban leaders. The last month’s release by Pakistan of former Taliban deputy chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was also linked to the Taliban-US talks. Baradar was captured in a joint Pakistan-US operation in Karachi in 2010.
Although the US has started meetings with the Taliban, which had been a longstanding demand of the insurgents, the challenge remains for the US as how to encourage the Taliban to sit with the Afghan government. Officials familiar with Qureshi’s discussions in Washington in October say the US had sought Islamabad’s help to convince the Taliban start negotiations with the Kabul administration.
Published in Daily Times, November 6th 2018.
