Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells arrived here on Sunday, after winding up her tour of India and Sri Lanka, for a four-day visit to Pakistan for talks on bilateral and regional matters.
The visit is part of her 10-day tour of the region (Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan). She will meet senior government officials and members of civil society to discuss issues of bilateral and regional concerns, including Afghanistan and the Middle East tensions. According to the sources, during her visit, she would meet Prime Minister Imran Khan, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other political leadership to discuss several issues, including Pak-US relations, the Afghan reconciliation peace process, ongoing tensions in the region, the US-Iran conflict and Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir.
They said that Alice Wells will also speak at a think tank and engage with members of civil society on what the US State Department calls "issues of bilateral and regional concern".
The US diplomat's visit to Pakistan comes in the backdrop of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's visit to the US where he met with United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande in New York. In Washington DC, Qureshi also met the US lawmakers and exchanged views on Pakistan-US ties and important regional and other matters of mutual interest, including Afghanistan peace process and Kashmir issue.
The foreign minister had also held a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In the meeting, Qureshi emphasised on Pakistan's desire for peace and stability in the region and assured his US counterpart that Islamabad was committed to playing its role ending the prevailing tension in the region.
The sources said that the US diplomat is expected to follow up on the foreign minister's discussions in Washington where he met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser Robert O' Brien, and Under Secretary of Defence John Rood.
They said that Pakistani leaders want the US should now focus on normalizing bilateral relations with Pakistan as the US had been only talking to Islamabad only on solution to the Afghan problem.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also pointed out this in the US and also urged Washington to withdraw its travel advisory for Pakistan. The US keeps on issuing advisories to its nationals and in majority asking them to avoid travelling to Pakistan in view of security situation.
Comments
Comments are closed.