Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will hold talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week on pushing forward the high-stakes relationship, which has only recently started recovering from successive setbacks of the last two years.
Khar, who arrives here Tuesday, is expected to discuss with Secretary Clinton subjects ranging from economic and trade cooperation, counterterrorism coordination along the Durrand Line, peace and security efforts in Afghanistan to regional issues of common interest. The two sides will seek to build upon recent improvement in ties after the revival of key Pakistani supply routes into Afghanistan. The relationship is regarded key bilaterally as well as to the peace prospects in Afghanistan and the larger South Asian region. American officials say the United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the safe passage working group held in Islamabad this month. According to a State Department official, the United States “looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly.” Besides holding formal talks with Clinton, the Pakistani foreign minister will also meet with White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
Khar will also meet Senator John Kerry, who chairs the influential Foreign Relations Committee. Her talks on the Capitol Hill will likely focus on security concerns vis-à-vis Afghanistan.
The Pakistani foreign minister’s visit comes at a crucial time for both counterterrorism partners as the US-led NATO allies move towards 2014 deadline to pull out combat troops from Afghanistan. Islamabad fears the possibility of another deadly unrest on its Afghan border after the NATO withdrawal, which, it says, could be a replay of post-Soviet pullout when Pakistan was left to deal with wreckage of the decade-long Afghan war after 1990. On counterterrorism, Khar is likely to stress the importance of intelligence sharing and opposition to any unilateral actions. President Asif Ali Zardari told visiting special envoy Marc Grossman of the country’s concerns on the tactic, which is seen as counterproductive to the anti-terror effort in Islamabad but valued in Washington as the most viable option available. During her visit, the foreign minister will also interact with the media and American intelligentsia at think tank events. Islamabad and Washington entered into a strategic partnership and worked closely in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, with Pakistan playing a vital role in bringing several high-profile al-Qaeda-linked terrorists to justice.
Pakistan also deployed an unprecedented number of troops along the Afghan border to stem the cross-border movements of militants. But relations between the two countries soured when things started getting out of control in Afghanistan as Washington paid more attention to the Iraq war. Pakistani official have been asking Washington to establish mutually respectful ties, not confined to its immediate concerns in Afghanistan but with a focus on long-term benefits.
Islamabad also demands preferential access for its textile products to the U.S. and seeks American investment into various sectors of the economy. On the other side, Washington wants Pakistan to be more vigorous in its counterterrorism cooperation against terrorists operating along the porous Pak-Afghan border, particularly the Afghan Haqqani group, which it recently declared as a foreign terrorist outfit. Foreign Minister Khar’s visit takes place in the backdrop of some improvement in the bilateral ties from early July resumption of Pakistani land routes for NATO supplies into landlocked Afghanistan.
Since then, senior American and Pakistani military commanders have met to discuss mutual security concerns and coordination along the Afghan border. US Special Representative Marc Grossman met with Pakistani leadership in Islamabad over the weekend including President Zardari and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Islamabad had closed the border crossings in reaction to killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in American airstrikes on Salala border posts on November 26,2011. Secretary Clinton apologized for the loss of Pakistani lives, paving the way for revival of the crucial supply routes. The relations between the two critical anti-terror partners had already been frayed by a series of events that included American security contractor Raymond Davis’ killing of two Pakistanis in Lahore in early 2011, the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and the subsequent May 2, 2011 unilateral American raid on the al-Qaeda chief’s hideout.
