Skip to main content

Imran likely to visit US next month

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to visit the United States early next month, although both sides are still trying to finalise a date, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

“Likely, but not final yet,” said a senior diplomat when asked to comment on media reports that the prime minister might visit Washington on July 20.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday that US President Donald Trump had invited the prime minister in June but he could not undertake the visit because of the budget session.

The foreign minister also said that talks between the two leaders would focus on “important regional matters”. Pakistan has helped the United States in jumpstarting the ongoing US-Taliban dialogue, which resumes in Doha on Saturday (today).

The United States now wants Islamabad to use its influence to persuade the Taliban to hold direct talks with the Afghan government.

The militants refuse to talk to Kabul, saying that it’s a “puppet government”, with no real powers.

Earlier this week, Pakistan hosted an intra-Afghan meeting in Bhurban, which was seen as the first step towards making the Afghan government more acceptable to the militants.

Kabul sent its representatives to the meeting, although the Taliban opted to stay out.

On Thursday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also visited Islamabad to seek its support for opening a communication link to the Taliban.

Diplomatic observers in Washington say that such efforts seem to have convinced the Trump administration that Islamabad is seriously supporting its efforts for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan.

“Washington feels that a White House visit, at this stage, would further encourage Islamabad to continue supporting the Afghan peace process,” one of the observers said.

Both governments have been exploring the possibility of Mr Khan’s visit since January this year when President Trump said that a meeting with the new leadership in Pakistan could take place “very soon”.

The offer came days after his administration initiated peace talks with the Taliban in Doha. “So, I look forward to meeting with the new leadership in Pakistan.

“We will be doing that in the not too distant future,” he told reporters at the White House after a cabinet meeting which reviewed Pakistan’s support to the Afghan peace process.

Both the US and Pakistani diplomatic sources in Washington confirm that Mr Khan may visit Washington soon but they differ over its schedule.

Some sources say that Mr Khan is coming next month while others say that the meeting between the two leaders could take place in September when Mr Khan will travel to the US for the annual session of the UN General Assembly.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/31XV6J5
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more

If Pakistani elderly self-distance infections could drop 30%: study

If we do nothing, COVID-19 could infect 206 million Pakistanis and kill 691,000. This is the estimation of researchers from the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team who have published country-wise projections in a March 26 report ‘ The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression ’ Furthermore, using an infection fatality rate from China, this means 4.4 million Pakistanis would require hospitalisation and from among those, 917,000 individuals would require critical care. Pakistan has a population of 220 million people. The research is based on the infection fatality rate from China, country health care system capacities and that one person with coronavirus is likely to infect 3 others. (You can find the excel sheet with Pakistan numbers here: Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx ) Forty-seven researchers crunched the numbers and made these projections to give countries, including Pakistan, some idea of...
Post a Comment
Read more