US Secretary of State Miike Pompeo said last month he hopes for Afghan peace deal ‘before September 1’.
DESPARDES — Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday disclosed in the US capital that President Donald Trump has accepted the invitation extended to him by Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Pakistan.
Premier Khan is in Washington (on three-day)– his maiden visit at the invitation of President Trump for top level discussions on Afghanistan, ‘South Asia peace’ and ‘enduring partnership’.
Observers say Khan and Trump being popular, straight-shooters, and having voiced their say against the war in Afghanistan, could personally bond and help bring peace in the region and repair the relationship between Islamabad and Washington.
After Khan and Trump held their first meet in the Oval office Monday, Qureshi held a presser, where he said matters pertaining to POTUS’ visit to Islamabad will soon be agreed upon– President George W. Bush had visited Pakistan more than a decade ago– in March 2006.
Being asked how the meeting between PM Khan and President Trump went, he said their talks demonstrated joint resolve to promote peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. “This is the closest we’ve been to a peace deal in Afghanistan. There’s no military solution in Afghanistan,” Khan had said alongside President Trump in the Oval Office on Monday.
Qureshi observed the meeting also conveyed a commitment to promoting peace in South Asia and President Trump’s willingness to help resolve the decades-old Kashmir dispute.
“If I can help, I would love to be a mediator,” Trump said at the White House, where he met Monday with visiting Pakistani premier. “If I can do anything to help, let me know,” he added. Trump said India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also asked him to help with the disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistan has long sought U.S. mediation in the Kashmir dispute, according to VOA News, “but the United States has previously said the issue must be solved bilaterally between India and Pakistan.”
Qureshi told the media “Delegation-level talks were also held between the two countries and Trump said we are going to have a very good relationship with Pakistan.”
Talks between the two countries comprised three meetings– the third meet was extended. Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Faiz Hameed were also present in the third delegation-level meeting.
That Pakistan is playing the main role in Afghan peace process and President Trump has made public his offer to mediate Kashmir crisis (if both parties ask) are two big takeaways of PM Khan’s first meet with the US President– during his maiden trip to Washington.
US Secretary of State Miike Pompeo said last month he hopes for Afghan peace deal ‘before September 1’.
