ISLAMABAD: Frosty relations between Pakistan and the US were likely to thaw as Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua began a two-day visit to Washingtron on Wednesday. She will hold a string of meetings with American officials to discuss the region’s political and security situation.
Janjua was initially expected to reach the US on Tuesday, but she had to delay her visit because of official engagements in Islamabad.
The US and Pakistan forged a strong working relationship during the Cold War days, and the two countries were also instrumental in driving out the Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s. However, they have drifted apart more recently.
US President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit” at the beginning of the year, while Pakistani politicians claimed that the US had never truly valued their country’s contributions.
The current US administration in Washington, along with its European allies, brought a resolution against Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), requesting the international body to grey-list its former Cold War partner country.
Soon after the FATF debacle, however, the Senior Director to South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, Lisa Curtis, visited Pakistan to constructively engage the foreign policy elite in Islamabad.
This week a senior US official, Alice Wells, emphasized Pakistan’s role in stabilizing Afghanistan during a recent news conference ahead of Janjua’s visit. Wells said that her country was not “walking away from Pakistan” and that the two sides would continue to discuss “how we can work together.”
Janjua was initially expected to reach the US on Tuesday, but she had to delay her visit because of official engagements in Islamabad.
The US and Pakistan forged a strong working relationship during the Cold War days, and the two countries were also instrumental in driving out the Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s. However, they have drifted apart more recently.
US President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit” at the beginning of the year, while Pakistani politicians claimed that the US had never truly valued their country’s contributions.
The current US administration in Washington, along with its European allies, brought a resolution against Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), requesting the international body to grey-list its former Cold War partner country.
Soon after the FATF debacle, however, the Senior Director to South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, Lisa Curtis, visited Pakistan to constructively engage the foreign policy elite in Islamabad.
This week a senior US official, Alice Wells, emphasized Pakistan’s role in stabilizing Afghanistan during a recent news conference ahead of Janjua’s visit. Wells said that her country was not “walking away from Pakistan” and that the two sides would continue to discuss “how we can work together.”
