Secretary Pompeo, General Joseph to visit Pakistan next week: James Mattis

Last updated on: 30 August,2018 04:15 pm

Action against common foes and terrorists will remain key issue to discuss during the talks.

Washington (Online) - US Secretary of state Mike Pompeo along with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford are set to visit Pakistan by next week to hold talks with Pakistan new leadership on “action against common foes and terrorists”, Us Secretary Defense James Mattis said.

“During their meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan and other Pakistani leaders, Secretary States and General Joseph will clearly ascertain what we have to do” he said.

Action against common foes and terrorists will remain key issue to discuss during the talks, he added.

“It will be made clear to Authorities in Pakistan that what we have to do for all our nations”.

Talking at the same news briefing Chairman Joint Chiefs of staff General Joseph Dan Ford said that the United States has its permanent national interest in South Asia and it wants its diplomatic and security influence maintained in the region. The influence will be altered with the passage of time, he said.

Experts say General Joseph’s inclusion in the delegation rejects the perception of the visit being trivial, nevertheless it’s a stop-over as the US Secretary of States and Defense Secretary will visit New Delhi the next week.

James Mattis stressed upon the need of fighting terrorism.

Earlier on the previous week a controversy surfaced over a telephonic conversation between Mike Pompeo and PM Imran Khan in which the US Secretary had stressed upon the need of “decisive action against terrorist networks operating on Pakistani soils”. However Pakistan had rejected US State Department’s statement after terming it “factually incorrect”.