ISLAMABAD: The second round of dialogue between Pakistan and the US focusing on bilateral defense and security cooperation would begin on Monday, Pakistan’s foreign office confirmed, adding that the talks being held in Washington would go on for four days.
The talks will take place after a gap of two years as the first round of the dialogue was held in Pakistan in January 2021.
Over the years, the relationship between Pakistan and the United States has been fraught with tensions and difficulties, with both nations having their own strategic interests and concerns. During its presence in Afghanistan, the US relied on Pakistan to provide supply routes to its troops in the war-ravaged country, but at the same time, accused Islamabad of not doing enough to combat militancy and accused its ally of allowing militant groups to operate within its territory. Pakistan denied the allegations.
Relations between the two countries got further strained when former prime minister Imran Khan accused Washington of colluding with Pakistan’s political parties to oust him from power via a “foreign conspiracy.” The allegations were vehemently denied by Washington and Khan’s political rivals.
Despite the challenges, both nations have continued to engage in diplomatic and military cooperation.
“The Second round of Pakistan-US mid-level defense dialogue is scheduled from 13-16 February 2023 in Washington DC,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“Pakistan’s inter-agency delegation, led by the chief of general staff, will comprise senior officials from the ministry of foreign affairs, joint staff headquarters, and three services headquarters,” the statement said, adding that the US multi-agency team will be represented by the office of the undersecretary of defense.
“Issues of bilateral defense and security cooperation will be discussed during the defense dialogue,” the foreign office said.
Analysts expressed mixed opinions on the outcome of the dialogue between Pakistan and the United States due to the conflicting interests and a history of mistrust between the two nations.
Former defense secretary, Lt. Gen. Naeem Khalid Lodhi, said there was a lot of mistrust between both sides as the US still blamed Pakistan for the outcome of its two-decade war in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan must realize when talking [to] the US that India is [a] strategic partner [of] America and we are transactional ally only meant for their certain interests in this region,” he told Arab News. “Military-to-military interests could only succeed if political interests were aligned.”
“In my opinion, the US has the least interest in peace in this region, especially Afghanistan, as chaos there resulting in disturbance in Pakistan suits American interests to fail the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) or slow its progress,” he added.
International relations expert, Dr. Huma Baqai, termed the dialogue a positive development for Pakistan-US relationship as well as the region.
“This dialogue is good as there was a long pause between Pakistan and US relations which is detrimental for us, especially for our defense collaboration,” she told Arab News.
Since Pakistan’s defense model is very much US-oriented, she said, any pause in both countries’ ties was a symbol of weakness.
“This will improve optics for Pakistan, by giving right and positive signals as we want to broaden our relationship from just utility partners,” she said, adding that it would also give positive signals to financial institutions as Pakistan needed economic support from them.
