Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived here on Sunday evening for a four-day visit, during which he will present Pakistan's point of view to top Obama administration officials at meetings planned as part of a wide-ranging review of the US policy toward Pak-Afghan region.
Qureshi, who is leading a delegation of senior Pakistani officials, will have discussions with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, National Security Adviser James Jones and Chairman of the White House review panel, Bruce Riedel.
The Pakistani and Afghan delegations have been invited to meet with US officials to give their input to the comprehensive review ordered by President Barack Obama. The US, Pakistani and Afghan officials will also hold a trilateral meeting for review consultations.
The Pakistani embassy in Washington has arranged a hectic schedule of events during the Foreign Minister Qureshi's visit. The foreign minister, accompanied by Islamabad's Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, will also have the opportunity to meet with key US lawmakers including Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The chief Pakistani diplomat will also meet his Afghan counterpart Rangeen Dafdar Spanta, who is leading his country's delegation to the review meetings.
Senior Pakistani foreign ministry and security officials will also take part in the review meetings. The Pakistani officials are expected to apprise their interlocutors of the objectives behind last week's Swat peace arrangement, which they believe would help restore peace to the scenic north-western valley that experienced spiralling militant violence in the past several months.
The US administration wants to complete the ongoing review by the end of March, to ready itself for a Nato summit to be held in early April. President Obama says his administration wants to follow a comprehensive policy in the insurgency-hit Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions. During a visit to Ottawa, Canada last week, he recognised the need for greater diplomatic and development efforts in the restive border regions to achieve realistic goals.
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