By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: US and Pakistan Wednesday began their first strategic dialogue with Washington focusing on the war on terrorism and Islamabad bringing a long wish list, including an India-type civil nuclear deal and help in reviving peace talks with India.
Launching the talks at the State Department, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged full support to Pakistan in its growing action against extremism, saying “Its struggles are our struggles”.
A “new day” had begun in their relationship, she said noting that “for the past year, the Obama administration has shown in our words and deeds a different approach and attitude toward Pakistan fractious ties between the two nations”.
The two nations “have had our misunderstandings and disagreements in the past,” Clinton acknowledged. “But this is a new day”.
One way to improve ties, she said, would be to expand the security focus to include energy development, education and agriculture. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is co-chairing the meeting, said all must be addressed to win the war on violent extremism.
Neither Clinton nor Qureshi outlined specific programmes, but media reports have suggested that Pakistan is bringing to the table a long wish list, including an India-type civil nuclear deal and a direct Washington role in reviving the peace process with New Delhi.
Though the State Department declined to acknowledge that Pakistan had made the demands in a 56-page document sent to the US ahead of Wednesday’s talks, the Wall Street Journal citing unnamed American officials suggested it was an implicit offer to crack down in return on the Afghan Taliban.
Raising concerns about India’s effort to modernise its military, in part through buying US equipment and weapons, the document urges Washington to take a direct role in reviving the peace process between India and Pakistan stalled since the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the Journal said Clinton acknowledged to the Pakistani media that Islamabad may raise the nuclear deal issue, but she would not “prejudge or preempt” the outcome.
“I’m sure that that’s going to be raised and we’re going to be considering it, but I can’t prejudge or pre-empt what the outcome of our discussions will be, except to say that this Strategic Dialogue is at the highest level we’ve ever had between our two countries,” she said in an interview with Pakistan’s Express TV Group.
However, the primary focus of the talks is expected to be security issues and the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan with Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, Pakistani army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Lt Gen Shuja Pasha, head of Pakistan’s spy agency joining the talks.