In meeting with US official, FM Qureshi stresses on regular bilateral dialogue

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has stressed that regular and organised dialogue between Pakistan and the US is important to promote bilateral relations and to achieve shared regional objectives.

In a press release issued on Friday, the Foreign Office (FO) said that US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who is the senior-most official in the State Department after Secretary of State Antony Blinken, called on the FM in Islamabad where they held discussions on issues related to bilateral relations, Afghanistan and regional peace.

During their meeting, Qureshi said that Pakistan desires a broad-based, long term and sustainable relationship with the US for the promotion of economic cooperation and regional peace.

While talking about the situation in Afghanistan, the FM said that Pakistan and the US have same views on Afghanistan. "The new Afghan setup will work for peace and stability as well as for the betterment of its people. A representative and broad-based Afghan government can be a trustworthy partner for the international community," the FO quoted Qureshi as saying.

Pakistan seeks objective, broad-based relationship with US: FO

The FM stressed that the international community should positively engage with Afghanistan and provide humanitarian and financial resources to it. Concrete steps should be taken to build a sustainable economy in Afghanistan and address the difficulties of Afghan people, he told the visiting US official.

US Deputy Secretary Sherman appreciated Pakistan's help in the evacuation of US and other nationals from Afghanistan, and also lauded its consistent efforts for peace in the region.

Calling attention to the serious human rights violations in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Qureshi stressed for the resolution of the Kashmir issue for durable peace and stability in South Asia.

Following their meeting, Sherman tweeted that she and FM Qureshi discussed Afghanistan’s future and the important and long-standing US-Pakistan relationship.

"We look forward to continuing to address pressing regional and global challenges," she tweeted.

World must maintain contact with interim government in Afghanistan: Moeed Yusuf

Meanwhile, in a meeting with Sherman on Thursday, Advisor to Prime Minister on National Security Moeed Yusuf stressed that the world must maintain contact with the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan.

The two also discussed economic cooperation and the regional security situation.

The US Deputy Secretary of State Sherman and her team are in Islamabad on a two-day visit. Sherman is the highest-ranking US visitor to Pakistan since the Taliban took over Kabul.

Any wait-and-see approach on Afghanistan tantamount to abandonment: NSA Moeed

In an article published in the US-based journal Foreign Affairs on Thursday, Yusuf had called for holding a major donor conference to formulate immediate humanitarian and economic relief plans for averting risks of instability and terror threat to the entire world.

“A wait-and-see approach, although more politically tenable for many countries, would be tantamount to abandonment ... a starting point could be a major donor conference where regional players and Western countries sit together and draw up specific plans for immediate humanitarian and economic relief,” he said.

Discussing a way forward for Afghanistan, the NSA said, "Afghanistan deserves peace and prosperity, and a blame game among international actors will not get us there. Nor will a repeat of the mistakes of the 1990s, when the United States abandoned Afghanistan and sanctioned Pakistan."

He said the prudent way forward was for the international community to engage constructively with the new government in Kabul.