US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar have expressed their commitment to jointly act to achieve bilateral shared objectives.
As part of their regular consultations, the two foreign ministers met in Brussels late on Monday night where they discussed counterterrorism operations, support for the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process, the post 2014 transition in Afghanistan and various measures to further strengthen bilateral relations, including the need to move the US-Pakistan economic agenda from aid to trade that emphasises market access and investment.
The two welcomed the recent meetings of the trilateral core groups and the law enforcement, economic and defence working groups.
They also looked forward to meetings of the energy and strategic stability working groups and underlined the importance to continue these engagements in the weeks and months ahead. A State Department official said after the meeting that the US and Pakistan had agreed to identify and work on the areas of common interest. “As part of their regular series of consultations, Secretary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khar and their delegations reviewed the progress in US-Pakistani relations in 2012 based on their commitment to identify shared interests and act on them jointly,” he said, requesting anonymity. “They discussed counterterrorism cooperation, support for the Afghan-led peace process, the 2014 transition in Afghanistan and the need to move the US-Pakistan economic agenda from aid to trade, emphasising market access and investment,” he said. The official said both dignitaries termed the recent interactions between Pakistan and US encouraging for the future of relationship.
“They welcomed the recent meetings of the trilateral core group and the law enforcement, economic and defence working groups,” he pointed out. The foreign minister of Pakistan and the US secretary of state “looked forward to meetings of the energy and strategic stability working groups,” he said, adding that the US and Pakistan “will continue these engagements in the weeks and months ahead”.
Responding to a question regarding the chances of reconciliation efforts with Taliban earlier, deputy spokesperson of the State Department, Mark Toner, welcomed reports regarding reconciliation talks underway with the Taliban and the core group that includes Pakistan and Afghanistan. “I think we saw last week that there were meetings between Afghanistan and Pakistan, obviously. We’ve welcomed that kind of cooperation. We want to see greater dialogue between them. Obviously our role, as well as Pakistan’s role, is the same. We want to see an Afghan-led reconciliation process,” he clarified.
He also hailed the dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan to further the peace process in the war-torn country. “I think that we would view any kind of dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan that furthers that ultimate goal to be very positive. And certainly that’s our goal, is to play a facilitative role in this process,” he maintained.
Clinton, Khar agree to jointly achieve shared objectives
