US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls on PM Imran Khan
The meeting will also discuss Pakistans role in war on terror
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Imran Khan at the PM office.
The US setretary of state who is on one day official visit to Pakistan held a meeting with the prime minister to discuss matters pertaining to Pakistan-US relations and security situation of the region.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other officials are also present in meeting.
The meeting will also discuss Pakistan’s role in war on terror.
Pompeo also felicitated PM Imran Khan on assuming office and his party’s thumping victory in general elections.
Earlier, Mike Pompeo and US military chief General Joseph Dunford landed at the Nur Khan Airbase and were received by higher officials of Foreign Office and authorities of US embassy. Both also held a delegation level talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quereshi at FO.
Pompeo will then travel to India where he will be joined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to meet with their Indian counterparts on a range of key defense and trade issues.
Visit aimed at rapprochement with Pakistan
According to American media, Pompeo’s visit is aimed at rapprochement with Pakistan and to restore the once close ties enjoyed by Islamabad and Washington. Pompeo will also request Pakistan to back US-led move to restart the peace process in war-torn Afghanistan.
The visit comes a few days after the Pentagon canceled aid to Pakistan over record on militants. The US military said it has made a final decision to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan that had been suspended over Islamabad’s perceived failure to take decisive action against militants, in a new blow to deteriorating ties.
The so-called Coalition Support Funds were part of a broader suspension in aid to Pakistan announced by President Donald Trump at the start of the year, when he accused Pakistan of rewarding past assistance with “nothing but lies & deceit.”
But US officials had held out the possibility that Pakistan could win back that support if it changed its behavior.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in particular, had an opportunity to authorize $300 million in CSF funds through this summer - if he saw concrete Pakistani actions to go after insurgents. Mattis chose not to, a US official said.
“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy the remaining $300 (million) was reprogrammed,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said.
Faulkner said the Pentagon aimed to spend the $300 million on “other urgent priorities” if approved by Congress. He said another $500 million in CSF was stripped by Congress from Pakistan earlier this year, to bring the total withheld to $800 million.
The disclosure came ahead of an expected visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the top US military officer, General Joseph Dunford, to Islamabad. Mattis told reporters on Tuesday that combating militants would be a “primary part of the discussion.”
Experts on the Afghan conflict, America’s longest war, argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents in Afghanistan a place to plot deadly strikes and regroup after ground offensives.
