Pakistan and United States are in contact at a diplomatic level to reschedule the visit of Acting-Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells and the National Security Council's Senior Director for South and Central Asia Lisa Curtis to Islamabad, said Richard Snelsire, the spokesperson for the US Embassy.
The visit which was earlier scheduled for August 28 to September 02, postponed on the request of the government of Pakistan in the wake of the announcement of the South Asian policy by US President Donald Trump in which he accused Pakistan of providing 'safe havens' to terrorist organizations. The postponed visit was aimed at discussing this new policy with Pakistani leadership.
"There are discussions ongoing about rescheduling that trip", Snelsire told Business Recorder. He also dismissed the impression that the relationship between Pakistan and United States was stranded following Donald Trump's allegations against Pakistan, saying "in the last 10 days there have been a lot of high level engagements between officials of the two countries".
"Vice President Pence met with Prime Minister Abbasi, Under Secretary of State Shannon met with Foreign Secretary Janjua and Ambassador Lodhi met with Acting Secretary of State Alice Wells", he said while referring to the meetings held on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York.
He pointed out that Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif is still in the US, adding: "There may be other meetings coming up [with US authorities] as well".
The Foreign Minister earlier postponed his bilateral visit to the US which was expected to be held on August 25 on the invitation of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and instead embarked on visits to regional countries including China, Iran and Turkey to drum up support for Pakistan against Trumps' South Asian policy.
In July this year, the US withheld reimbursement of $50 million under the head of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) following Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' refusal to certify to Congress that Pakistan has done enough against the Haqqani network.
However, the Embassy spokesperson said that the civilian assistance was continuing and there has been no suspension of assistance which the US government is giving to Pakistan.
However, he did not give further details of civilian assistance, a major portion of which is being routed through the USAID.
Talking to Business Recorder, Lieutenant-General Talat Masood (retd), a senior analyst, said he believes that the worst point in the Pak-US relationship is over following the recent high level contacts between the two countries.
At the same time, he said there has been a shift in Pakistan's policy with regard to the proscribed organizations. As evident from recent statements given by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, later endorsed by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on "house cleaning", he said Pakistan is giving a clear message to the West that it is making an effort to control elements such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba - proscribed organizations in the country.
Masood further said that Pakistan's role was crucial in restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan and for the purpose a co-operative relationship between Pakistan and the US was a must.
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