US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – A delegation headed by United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday held meeting with Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi at Foreign Office in Islamabad.

During the meeting, the participants discussed ways to further strengthen Pakistan and US relations while they also held consultation over regional security.  

The US Secretary of State and military chief General Joseph Dunford are in Pakistan on a one-day visit during which he will have crucial meeting with Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Pompeo will then travel to India where he will be joined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to meet with their Indian counterpart on a range of key defense and trade issues.

Hoping to "reset the relationship" with Pakistan, says Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was hoping to "reset the relationship" with Pakistan. He also announced that Zalmay Khalilzad, a high profile former US ambassador, had been named to a new role to lead peace efforts in Afghanistan.

Pompeo’s conciliatory remarks toward Pakistan come days after Washington confirmed plans to cancel $300 million in military aid over Islamabad’s lack of "decisive actions" in support of American strategy in the region.

But the former CIA director, who is making his first visit as his nation’s top diplomat to the wayward ally whose support is vital in the long-running Afghan conflict, said it was time to "turn the page."

"So first stop -- Pakistan. New leader there, wanted to get out there at the beginning of his time in an effort to reset the relationship between the two countries," he said.

Visit aimed at rapprochement with Pakistan

According to American media, Pompeo’s visit is aimed at rapprochement with Pakistan and to restore the once close ties enjoyed by Islamabad and Washington. Pompeo will also request Pakistan to back US-led move to restart the peace process in war-torn Afghanistan.

The visit comes a few days after the Pentagon canceled aid to Pakistan over record on militants. The US military said it has made a final decision to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan that had been suspended over Islamabad’s perceived failure to take decisive action against militants, in a new blow to deteriorating ties.

The so-called Coalition Support Funds were part of a broader suspension in aid to Pakistan announced by President Donald Trump at the start of the year, when he accused Pakistan of rewarding past assistance with “nothing but lies & deceit.”

But US officials had held out the possibility that Pakistan could win back that support if it changed its behavior.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in particular, had an opportunity to authorize $300 million in CSF funds through this summer - if he saw concrete Pakistani actions to go after insurgents. Mattis chose not to, a US official said.

“Due to a lack of Pakistani decisive actions in support of the South Asia Strategy the remaining $300 (million) was reprogrammed,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said.

Faulkner said the Pentagon aimed to spend the $300 million on “other urgent priorities” if approved by Congress. He said another $500 million in CSF was stripped by Congress from Pakistan earlier this year, to bring the total withheld to $800 million.

The disclosure came ahead of an expected visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the top US military officer, General Joseph Dunford, to Islamabad. Mattis told reporters on Tuesday that combating militants would be a “primary part of the discussion.”

Experts on the Afghan conflict, America’s longest war, argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents in Afghanistan a place to plot deadly strikes and regroup after ground offensives.

---With input from AFP