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Pompeo ‘pleased’ after meeting with Pakistani FM
ISLAMABAD, Sept 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held
cordial meetings with Pakistani officials in Islamabad Wednesday, hours after
saying he hoped to “reset” Washington’s troubled relationship with its
wayward ally.
The shift in tone between Pompeo and his counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi
comes days after Washington confirmed plans to cancel $300 million in
military aid.
But the former CIA director, making his first visit as top US diplomat to a
nation whose support is vital in the Afghan conflict, told new Prime Minister
Imran Khan he was “pleased” with his meeting with Qureshi.
“We had an excellent meeting. I’m very happy with the meeting we had,”
Qureshi agreed, according to a pool report.
Khan, who has voiced anti-US sentiment in the past but vowed a more
balanced relationship as premier, said he was hopeful of finding a new way
forward with Washington.
“A sportsman always is an optimist,” said the former cricketer, who
captained Pakistan to World Cup victory in 1992, according to the report. “He
steps on the field and he thinks he’s going to win.”
US officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating with
groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network, which attack
Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries.
The White House believes that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency
and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban both for
ideological reasons and to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.
It believes that a Pakistani crackdown on the militants could be pivotal in
deciding the outcome of the long-running war in Afghanistan.
On the plane ahead of his South Asia trip Pompeo said it was time to “turn
the page” and suggested that the election of Khan, who has vowed to seek
better relations with the US, could provide a fresh impetus.
“Look, I think there is a new government this time, most of this took place
long before the prime minister was in power and I hope we can turn the page
and begin to make progress. But there are real expectations,” he said.
“There are lot of challenges between our two nations, for sure, but we’re
hopeful that with the new leadership that we can find common ground and we
can begin to work on some of our shared problems together,” added Pompeo, who
was later joined by General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
– Shared goal –
“I’m hopeful we can convince them to provide that assistance,” he
continued, adding that in his conversations with Khan, they had agreed that
peace in Afghanistan was a “shared goal”.
In his earlier comments Pompeo also held out the possibility the military
aid, part of a broader freeze announced in January, could be restored under
the right circumstances.
“We were providing these resources when it made sense for the United States
because the partnership was in a place where the actions of our two countries
made sense to do that,” he said. “If that arises again, I’m confident we’ll
present to the president the rationale for that.”
Pompeo added he would also meet Pakistan’s powerful army chief General
Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The latest remarks represent a change in tone toward the nuclear-armed
Muslim country and its new prime minister, a former playboy cricketer who
came to office in July amid concerns he would remain tolerant of terror
groups.
At the time of the vote, the US noted what it called “flaws” in Pakistan’s
pre-electoral process but said it was nonetheless ready to work with the new
government.
Pompeo also confirmed that Zalmay Khalilzad, a high-profile former US
ambassador to Kabul, Baghdad and the United Nations, would be appointed to
lead peace efforts in Afghanistan.
“Ambassador Khalilzad is going to join the State Department team to assist
us in the reconciliation effort, so he will come on and be the State
Department’s lead person for that purpose,” he said.
Pompeo is only due to spend a few hours in Pakistan. He will travel on to
India where he will be joined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to meet their
counterparts on a range of defence and trade issues.
BSS/AFP/RY/1830