The long-awaited restoration of the United States and Pakistan strategic dialogue process is expected in September. According to sources, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will lead the Pakistani delegation to Washington in September. COAS Ashfaq Kayani has attended working group meetings but so far no official confirmation has been received regarding his visit to the US, hence consultations are underway in this regard.
The actual date of the resumed dialogue is still unclear, so is its venue. The third round had taken place in Washington in October 2010. Kayani, along with then ISI chief Shuja Pasha had also participated in the third round in Washington. Whether Pakistan’s top security leadership would participate in its fourth round is also unclear, the sources concluded.
Pak-US relations must be based on equality and mutual respects and needs. The views of the Congress and the Parliament shall be honored. Recently, Pakistani Parliament has framed guidelines to build mutually respectable ties between the two. The coming Pak-US strategic dialogue must be based upon these premises so that the mutual ties become long-lasting and durable specially at a time when NATO is planning to withdraw from Afghanistan. India must be kept at the bay to reduce Pakistani concerns in Afghanistan. The September agenda should address these issues. Dr Ahmad Rashid Malik – Islamabad.
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