Afghanistan dominated the separate conferences Overseas Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held with United States Nationwide Safety Advisor (NSA) John Bolton and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Washington on Tuesday.
Qureshi is visiting Washington on Pompeo’s invitation, who had visited Islamabad earlier final month to carry talks with the newly elected authorities.
The primary set of talks on Tuesday started on the White Home the place the international minister met NSA Bolton for 40 minutes earlier than heading to the State Division for an additional assembly together with his American counterpart, the US Secretary of State. The second assembly lasted 40 minutes as properly and was additionally attended by Overseas Secretary Tehmina Janjua and Ambassador Ali Jehangir Siddiqui.
Pakistan reiterated its dedication to help an Afghan-led peace and reconciliation course of in Afghanistan in each conferences. Based on statements launched by the Pakistan embassy within the US, the nation’s relationship with its nuclear-armed rival India was additionally mentioned on this context.
Whereas the media anticipated a joint assertion, each side launched separate statements, explaining how far this try to “reset” had gone. The cautious silence on each side, nonetheless, indicated that the talks weren’t as profitable as anticipated.
The assertion about Qureshi’s assembly with Bolton centered virtually totally on explaining Pakistan’s place on numerous points and didn’t say a lot about what Bolton or his workforce stated within the assembly.
“In the course of the assembly, Mr Qureshi and Mr Bolton mentioned Pakistan-US relations and the regional scenario in South Asia,” the assertion learn.
Based on the assertion, Qureshi repeated Pakistan’s stance that the Afghanistan situation had no army answer and insisted that peace within the neighbouring nation was important for stability within the area. He additionally highlighted Pakistan’s efforts to advertise progress in Afghanistan by initiating the Afghanistan Pakistan Motion Plan for Peace and Solidarity.
Nevertheless, the international minister regretted that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s efforts for peace within the area weren’t reciprocated by India, which lately cancelled a gathering that was to be held between Qureshi and Indian Overseas Minister Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations Basic Meeting session that was held final week in New York.
He additionally pointed to the human rights violations carried out towards Kashmiris by the Indian military in held Kashmir and the routine ceasefire violations by the Indian Border Safety Forces alongside the Line of Management and Working Boundary. But, Qureshi stated that Pakistan wished to carry a complete dialogue with India to achieve a peaceable answer to resolve the conflicts between the 2 nations.
The main target remained on the scenario in Afghanistan throughout his assembly with Pompeo as properly. Each officers famous that Pakistan and the US shared a standard need for peace and stability in Afghanistan and the area at giant.
Additionally they confused the necessity to revive ties between the 2 nations, which have been strained for the previous few years.