Islamabad, Sept 5:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday and pressed him “to do more” to rein in the terror groups operating from the country’s soil, days after the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad.
Pompeo, the former CIA chief who was on his first visit to Pakistan as the top American diplomat, told Khan that he was “pleased” with his meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi earlier in the day.
But at the same time, Pompeo asked Khan “to do more” at the meeting, which was also attended by Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Foreign Minister Qureshi, Geo TV reported, citing diplomatic sources.
This was the US’ first high-level dialogue with Pakistan since the new government of Prime Minister Khan assumed office after the July 25 elections and comes days after the US cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil.
“In #Pakistan with my colleague & friend CJCS Gen Joe Dunford. Today we met with PM @ImranKhanPTI & FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi to discuss our diplomatic & military to military relationship” Pompeo tweeted.
Later, Qureshi told reporters that the Pakistani perspective was presented responsibly to the US delegation.
“You could have guessed by the body language that the meeting was a cordial one. We tried to understand their wishes and put forth our own expectations and concerns,” he said.
“Ice has been thawed,” Qureshi said.
“Today, we felt that we have created an atmosphere to reset our relations, and the lack of trust that was present has been broken which is a very positive development.
“Believe me, if our narrative had not set in with them, the atmosphere would have been different, your questions to me would have been different and the nature of Pompeo’s tweet before leaving would have been different,” he told reporters. (PTI)
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