US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will visit Pakistan and India next month, which have clashed over the way forward in Afghanistan, the State Department announced Monday.
Sherman, After CIA Chief Bill Burns, will be one of the first high-level officials to visit Pakistan under the leadership of President Joe Biden.
After previous visits to New Delhi and Mumbai on October 6-7, Sherman will meet senior officials in Islamabad on October 7-8, when she will meet with officials and civil society leaders and the US-India Business Council’s annual “ideas summit”. Will address State Department said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a personal opinion published on monday Washington Post, called Pakistan a “convenient scapegoat”.
He elaborated on the themes in his address on Friday, writing, “In Afghanistan, the lack of legitimacy for an outsider’s protracted war is characterized by a corrupt and inept Afghan government, seen as a puppet regime without credibility, especially seen by rural Afghans.” United Nations General Assembly.
He urged the world to engage the Taliban government to “ensure peace and stability”.
Biden, who has called for stronger ties with India like his predecessors, has yet to speak to Prime Minister Imran, although Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Pakistani counterpartOn the sidelines of UN meetings last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi thanked Islamabad for helping to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Qureshi said that the close relationship between Pakistan and the United States has always been mutually beneficial and a factor for stability in South Asia. He reiterated Pakistan’s desire for a balanced relationship with the US based on trade, investment, energy and regional connectivity.
EAM also reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to facilitate efforts for an inclusive political solution in Afghanistan. Pakistan, he said, also believes that “only a stable and broad-based government in Afghanistan, which reflects its diversity and preserves the gains made by the country since 2001, would be able to ensure that Afghan territory is never exploited by international terrorist groups. Never again”.
.