Pompeo, Pakistan army chief discuss relations, Afghanistan
Updated 07 June 2018
AP
ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spoken by phone with Pakistan's army chief to discuss political reconciliation in Afghanistan and other issues.
A statement released by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says Pompeo and Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa discussed ways to advance U.S.-Pakistani bilateral relations, the need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan and the importance of targeting all militant and terrorist groups in South Asia without distinction.
Pakistan hosted the first direct peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban in 2015, but they ended when Kabul announced the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Washington has talked up the prospects for peace many times and Pakistan has said it will help to ensure its neighbor's stability.
Greenland should hold talks with the US without Denmark, opposition leader says
Updated 3 sec ago
COPENHAGEN: Greenland should hold direct talks with the US government without Denmark, a Greenlandic opposition leader told Reuters, as the Arctic island weighs how to respond to President Donald Trump’s renewed push to bring it under US control. Trump has recently stepped up threats to take over Greenland, reviving an idea he first floated in 2019 during his first term in office. Greenland is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defense system. Its rich mineral resources also fit Washington’s goal of reducing dependence on China. The island is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It has its own parliament and government, but Copenhagen retains authority over foreign affairs and defense. “We encourage our current (Greenlandic) government actually to have a dialogue with the US government without Denmark,” said Pele Broberg, the leader of Naleraq, the largest opposition party and the most prominent political voice for Greenland’s independence. “Because Denmark is antagonizing both Greenland and the US with their mediation.” Naleraq, which strongly advocates a rapid move to full independence, doubled its seats to eight in last year’s election, winning 25 percent of the vote in the nation of just 57,000. Although excluded from the governing coalition, the party has said it wants a defense agreement with Washington and could pursue a “free association” arrangement — under which Greenland would receive US support and protection in exchange for military rights, without becoming a US territory. All Greenlandic parties want independence but differ on how, and when, to achieve it.
GOVERNMENT SAYS DIRECT TALKS NOT POSSIBLE Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said Greenland could not conduct direct talks with the US without Denmark because it is not legally allowed to do so. “We must respect the law, and we have rules for how to resolve issues in the Kingdom,” she told Sermitsiaq daily late on Wednesday. The Danish and Greenlandic governments did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Broberg’s remarks. The comments come ahead of a planned meeting between the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio next week to address tensions between NATO allies. Motzfeldt said it was important to set Greenland’s relationship with Washington on a steady course. “My greatest hope is that the meeting will lead to a normalization of our relationship,” she told Sermitsiaq. Rubio appears not to favor a military operation, according to France’s foreign minister. But others in the Trump administration say the option is on the table. “We are going to make sure we defend America’s interests,” US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News in an interview aired late on Wednesday. “And I think the president is willing to go as far as he has to make sure he does that.” (Reporting by Tom Little and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; additional reporting by Soren Jeppesen; writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Ros Russell)
