The United States is touting high-level and wide-ranging talks here on Wednesday with Pakistan, a frontline ally in the war on extremism, as a "major intensification of our partnership."
President Barack Obama's administration has promised to engage more deeply with Pakistan, which has long seen Washington as interested only in securing its military co-operation in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
The talks chaired by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will cover not just security but also economic development, water and energy, education, communications and public diplomacy, and agriculture, US officials said.
Pakistan has mentioned ten topics, including health as well as science and technology. The event "marks a major intensification of our partnership," said Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. "This is a partnership that goes far beyond security, but security is an important part of it."
The broadening partnership is based "on mutual respect and mutual trust," Holbrooke told reporters on Friday. "The United States is supporting Pakistan as it seeks to strengthen democratic institutions, as it seeks to foster more economic development, expand opportunities, deal with its energy and water problems, and defeat the extremist groups who threaten both Pakistan's security and stability in the larger region, and American national security as well," he said.
Holbrooke said the meetings Wednesday will touch on US legislation adopted last year for 1.5 billion dollars to be sent to Pakistan over the next five years - a sharp increase in US economic and development aid.
"We have to have the money appropriated," Holbrooke said after he discussed the matter last week with senior administration officials at the White House.
"We are looking for every way to accelerate the obligations and the disbursement," he promised. "We do not think that the money is moving as fast as we'd like it to."
In Islamabad, Qureshi last week called on Washington to follow up words with action, saying he wants a completely different format to ensure the talks are broad-based. Qureshi is proposing talks on ten tracks: economy, energy, defence, education, science and technology, counter-terrorism, strategic stability and non proliferation, health, communication, agriculture and public diplomacy. "My message to the US is that the time has come to walk the talk," Qureshi said, adding the so-called strategic dialogue will help "re-build confidence and trust on both sides." He added: "We expect the US to understand our concerns both in the realm of security and economic development."
In January, Clinton unveiled a long-term, non-military strategy to stabilise both Afghanistan and Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment is high.
The plan calls for sending dozens of US development and other staff to Pakistan by the end of the year to enhance oversight of contracts and improve the management of programs developed with Islamabad.
It also calls for boosting Pakistan's capabilities to fight a growing Islamist insurgency and to enhance the US partnership with Islamabad, partly through supporting political and economic reforms.
Besides Qureshi, defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar, army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani as well as top advisers on finance, agriculture and water will attend. In addition to Clinton, top US officials will include Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, as well as deputies of the treasury and trade.
Holbrooke said the talks will not replace the existing trilateral Afghanistan, Pakistan and US framework set up by the Obama administration, which will remain the umbrella for tackling the extremist threat.