ISLAMABAD: A United States delegation led by Lisa Curtis, the White House South Asia affairs adviser, has left for Islamabad and will reach the country soon, Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Aizaz Chaudhry said.
The ambassador expressed optimism at the delegation’s visit and said talks between the US and Pakistan would promote harmony between the two countries.
Curtis recently held a meeting with Afghan National Security Adviser Haneef Atmar, who tweeted on September 1:
Curtis, a senior expert at a conservative Washington think tank, the Heritage Foundation, was appointed to the White House post in April this year.
Pakistan in August had postponed a visit by the US acting Assistant Secretary of State, officials said, as protests broke out against President Donald Trump’s accusations that Islamabad was prolonging the war in Afghanistan.
The visit of Alice Wells, acting assistant Secretary of State for South and Asian Affairs, scheduled for early September, would have been the first high-profile visit by a US official since Trump’s Afghan policy speech on Aug 21.
“At the request of the Government of Pakistan, Acting Assistant Secretary Wells’ trip has been postponed until a mutually convenient time,” a US Embassy spokesperson told Reuters in Islamabad on Sunday.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry released a statement with similar wording.
Increased tensions between the two countries after Trump accused Pakistan of harbouring safe havens for terrorists somewhat withered down after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif met with US Vice President and Secretary of State, respectively, in New York last month.