Mike Pompeo, Shah Mehmood Qureshi underscore need to 'reset US-Pak bilateral ties'

[hussain.r97]

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday held the opening round of talks between the two countries at the Foreign Office in Islamabad, where the two delegations discussed "bilateral, regional and international issues".

US military chief Gen Joseph Dunford also accompanied Pompeo on his short visit to Pakistan, where further meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa are expected.

According to the Foreign Office, "discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues" took place in the meeting that lasted for about 40 minutes.

"FM Qureshi underscores the need to reset bilateral ties on basis of mutual trust and respect," FO spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal stated on Twitter, adding: "Safeguarding Pakistan’s national interests will remain supreme priority."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues take place between Pakistan and the US. FM Qureshi underscores the need to reset bilateral ties on basis of mutual trust and respect. Safeguarding Pakistan’s national interests will remain supreme priority. <a href="https://t.co/WhINcNRbZT">pic.twitter.com/WhINcNRbZT</a></p>— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@ForeignOfficePk) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForeignOfficePk/status/1037282359001931778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Pompeo, following his meeting with the foreign ministry officials, left for the PM House, where he is currently holding talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Earlier, Pompeo, who landed at the Nur Khan Airbase in Islamabad just before 1pm, was received by foreign ministry's Director General (Americas) Dr Zafar Iqbal and American diplomats.

He headed for the US embassy in a motorcade of about 20 white Toyota Land Cruisers and a police escort.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GenDunford?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GenDunford</a> just arrived in Islamabad <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a> to join <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecPompeo</a> for meetings with senior government and military leaders.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GenDunfordTravels?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GenDunfordTravels</a> <a href="https://t.co/ycHJwaqdA2">pic.twitter.com/ycHJwaqdA2</a></p>— The Joint Staff (@thejointstaff) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejointstaff/status/1037247473410924545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Earlier, while talking to media representatives on board his Pakistan-bound flight, Pompeo had said he was visiting Pakistan to reset bilateral relations.

“First stop Pakistan; a new leader there. I wanted to get out there at the beginning of his [Khan's] time in an effort to reset the relationship between the two countries," he said in his opening statement.

“We have worked closely with the Pakistanis in my role as CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] director. Our teams have been working together for a long time. There are lots of challenges between our two nations for sure, but we’re hopeful that with the new leadership, we can find common ground and begin to work on some of our shared problems together,” he added.

Pompeo said the new Pakistani government has expressed good-faith intention to improve bilateral ties.

He said he was going to Islamabad with the US military chief Gen Joseph Dunford to have discussions with Pakistani authorities.

“We’ll also meet with General Bajwa, who we both know, who I’ve met with a number of times, as well as my counterpart, Foreign Minister [Shah Mehmood] Qureshi,” he said.

“So we’ll have three opportunities to walk through the complexity that is this relationship and hopefully begin to make some progress so that we can get back to a set of common understandings,” said Pompeo while referring to a possible meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“So, that’s really the very straightforward objective. I think it’s important to meet the new prime minister, Prime Minister Khan, early on in his time in office,” he said.

A journalist reminded the Secretary of State that his trip comes right after the announcement that the US was cutting $300 million in military aid to Pakistan.

“What do you think of that as a start-off point for this new relationship that you’re trying to build?” Pompeo was asked.

“Look, this wasn’t news to the Pakistanis. It made a lot of headlines over the last few days ... but they were told this past summer that they weren’t likely to get that money,” Pompeo recalled.

“And the rationale for them not getting the money is very clear. It’s that we haven’t seen the progress that we need to see from them.”

'Turn the page'
Pompeo said the very reason for this trip was to try and articulate what the US expectation was, what Pakistan could do and the things that they expect the US to do. “And see if we can’t find a path forward together,” he added.

The secretary noted that most of the developments affecting Pak-US relations took place long before Khan was in power. “I’m hoping we can turn the page and begin to make progress. But there are real expectations,” he said.

“We need Pakistan to seriously engage to help us get to the reconciliation we need in Afghanistan.”

Pompeo pointed out that both the outgoing and incoming commanders of US forces in Afghanistan had said that this was not possible without Pakistan’s assistance.

He acknowledged that Pakistan too had important interests, including security interests, in Afghanistan to “make sure they get the issues at their border right, and we need their help”.

He said he was hopeful he could convince the new Pakistani government to provide that assistance because in a recent conversation with him, Prime Minister Khan had acknowledged that peace in Afghanistan was a priority for him as well.

“I think he said they’re the number one or number two advocate for reconciliation in Afghanistan. I said I think we’re number three – all of us wanting that. So we have a shared goal there. I hope we can find a way to achieve it together,” Pompeo said.

He said the US was providing different sets of resources to Pakistan when it made sense for the United States to do so because the partnership was in a place that both countries were coordinating their actions.

“If that arises again, I am confident we will present to the President [Trump] the rationale for that, and then something like that might make sense,” he added.

Asked why it made sense to suspend the assistance now, Pompeo said: “We certainly haven’t seen the progress that we would hope to have seen... certainly not progress that would be sufficient for us to have advocated for turning back on that financial support.”

Responding to another question about whether he will raise the issue of Dr Shakeel Afridi during his trip to Pakistan, Pompeo said: "I have a long history of raising the case of Dr Afridi as the CIA director. I’ll leave it at that."

Pompeo confirmed that Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was with him on the plane and that he was going to join the State Department team to assist him with the reconciliation effort. "So, he will come on and be the State Department’s lead person in the reconciliation talks," he said.

Ambassador Khalilzad, he said, would work with the State Department “to be full-time focused on developing the opportunities to get the Afghans and Taliban to come to a reconciliation. That will be his singular mission statement.”

Additional information from news agencies.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1431096/pompeo-qureshi-underscore-need-to-reset-us-pak-bilateral-ties

 

[PakLFC]

Pompei or Popeye whatever he is was not overly respected during this visit that was great to see. Imran Khan turned up in a crinkled Salwar Kamiz that itself was a message to America. Only one way the relationship can be resettled is for America to permanently leave Afghanistan. Now that Osama is dead there is no reason for them to remain there. The Afghan Taliban simply want the invaders out of their country, no reason for Pak to fight them on the behest of America.

 

[zn426]

Pompei or Popeye whatever he is was not overly respected during this visit that was great to see. Imran Khan turned up in a crinkled Salwar Kamiz that itself was a message to America. Only one way the relationship can be resettled is for America to permanently leave Afghanistan. Now that Osama is dead there is no reason for them to remain there. The Afghan Taliban simply want the invaders out of their country, no reason for Pak to fight them on the behest of America.

Is that what you consider "overly respected"? Do you think Theresa May or Modi or Shinzo Abe would show up dressed in bad clothes? Dressing properly is simply common courtesy. It's fine to wear a shalwar kameez, but at least have it ironed and clean. You can be polite and firm without showing respect.

Please keep in mind the stakes as well. With Pakistan's balance of payment problems and bad relations with countries around them, why not keep your options open?

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Only reason he came here was because America wanted something. That is the nature in which they see this relationship. Everytime it's the same useless dribble. Pakistan though has no need to oblige. We have done plenty to wipe out terrorism and as far as helping them fight the Afghan Taliban is concerned, it is the equivalent of putting a bullet to the heat. I also heard Pompeo wanted to meet the Army Chief separately but couldn't and in the end the Army Chief, was was sitting with the PM in the meeting, which in itself sends a strong message.

We have absolutely no obligation to align ourselves with America to support their self-serving interests. We have China. And although they will likely benefit far more than us, they are our most important ally. Similarly, I think there is potential for the Russia-Pakistan relationship to grow

 

[shaaik]

Only reason he came here was because America wanted something. That is the nature in which they see this relationship. Everytime it's the same useless dribble. Pakistan though has no need to oblige. We have done plenty to wipe out terrorism and as far as helping them fight the Afghan Taliban is concerned, it is the equivalent of putting a bullet to the heat. I also heard Pompeo wanted to meet the Army Chief separately but couldn't and in the end the Army Chief, was was sitting with the PM in the meeting, which in itself sends a strong message.

We have absolutely no obligation to align ourselves with America to support their self-serving interests. We have China. And although they will likely benefit far more than us, they are our most important ally. Similarly, I think there is potential for the Russia-Pakistan relationship to grow

We have been fighting this war for far too long now. The previous govts. should hv worked out a strategy to get us out of this so called War on terror which actually is a War of Terror. Kudos To Imran Khan and Army that they have finally realized that its about time that pakistan stops fighting someone else's war.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

We have been fighting this war for far too long now. The previous govts. should hv worked out a strategy to get us out of this so called War on terror which actually is a War of Terror. Kudos To Imran Khan and Army that they have finally realized that its about time that pakistan stops fighting someone else's war.

I think they've come to the realization that this relationship is simply not beneficial to us in any way. Ultimately, Americans are just going to use us for their own self-serving interests as they also always have and with China already becoming a major ally, we don't need them. Also think it's about time we improve our relations with Iran and Russia.

 

[PakLFC]

Is that what you consider "overly respected"? Do you think Theresa May or Modi or Shinzo Abe would show up dressed in bad clothes? Dressing properly is simply common courtesy. It's fine to wear a shalwar kameez, but at least have it ironed and clean. You can be polite and firm without showing respect.

Please keep in mind the stakes as well. With Pakistan's balance of payment problems and bad relations with countries around them, why not keep your options open?

Others can dress up however they want. Yes always conforming to western ideals wearing shirt and tie smacks of an inferiority complex. There is nothing "bad" about dressing in a crinkled salwar suit moreover when officials and diplomats from abroad visit the west the latter always dress according to it's own culture so whats wrong if our PM does the same? IK's clothes were clean so get over your inferiority western complex. Oh I see so dressing in western attire will improve our economy and money worries!!!

 

[zn426]

Others can dress up however they want. Yes always conforming to western ideals wearing shirt and tie smacks of an inferiority complex. There is nothing "bad" about dressing in a crinkled salwar suit moreover when officials and diplomats from abroad visit the west the latter always dress according to it's own culture so whats wrong if our PM does the same? IK's clothes were clean so get over your inferiority western complex. Oh I see so dressing in western attire will improve our economy and money worries!!!

You missed the point entirely.
I said a shalwar kameez is fine. I said nothing about western clothing.
It's a psychological thing. If you dress for success, people will be much more likely to take you seriously. Or do you think wearing a wrinkled shalwar kameez will somehow cow the person you are meeting? All it would tell me is that you're not serious and it would change the tone of the conversation. Americans, particularly the political leadership, are stern about making a strong first impression. The only way to meet American political officials is with a polite, firm intensity. Unprepared clothing, whether Pakistani or western, detracts from your intensity.

 

[PakLFC]

You missed the point entirely.
I said a shalwar kameez is fine. I said nothing about western clothing.
It's a psychological thing. If you dress for success, people will be much more likely to take you seriously. Or do you think wearing a wrinkled shalwar kameez will somehow cow the person you are meeting? All it would tell me is that you're not serious and it would change the tone of the conversation. Americans, particularly the political leadership, are stern about making a strong first impression. The only way to meet American political officials is with a polite, firm intensity. Unprepared clothing, whether Pakistani or western, detracts from your intensity.

What you on about? Salwar kameez is as much "dressing for success" then suit and tie in Pakistan. If it was the west then perhaps I would agree with you however in Pak IK there is nothing wrong in wearing the majority dress crinkled or not. The first impression was the body language of IK where he looked straight on showing no sign of being intimidated. So wearing a salwar kameez making you not serious!!? I did not see any holes or damages in IK's dress at all, it was adequate.

 

[zn426]

What you on about? Salwar kameez is as much "dressing for success" then suit and tie in Pakistan. If it was the west then perhaps I would agree with you however in Pak IK there is nothing wrong in wearing the majority dress crinkled or not. The first impression was the body language of IK where he looked straight on showing no sign of being intimidated. So wearing a salwar kameez making you not serious!!? I did not see any holes or damages in IK's dress at all, it was adequate.

You really don't read. Perhaps your comprehension will improve in the future. Good bye.

 

[PakLFC]

You really don't read. Perhaps your comprehension will improve in the future. Good bye.

You have no knowledge at all. Pakistan does not need those suffering from an inferiority complex like you. It is people like you who are the country's biggest problem to worried about pleasing "Amerika" all the time. Show some back bone and pride. IK wore salwar kameez so obviously agree's with me not you.