ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo along with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford called on Prime Minister Imran Khan here today. 

Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua were also present in the meeting.

US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo also called on Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Rawalpindi.

The meeting was held in a pleasant environment in which they discussed issues of mutual interest. They discussed diplomatic and military to military relationship and enhance bilateral cooperation.

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Relevant pieces: 

i) Describing the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the bilateral discussions as “a positive development”, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Wednesday said it broke the “disrupted bilateral engagement” as the two sides expressed willingness to move forward.
“I presented Pakistan’s viewpoint with fortitude, dignity, and responsibility,” Qureshi told a press conference here after the bilateral talks with US Secretary of State at the Foreign Office and the subsequent meeting at the PM Office in the presence of civilian and military leadership.
The foreign minister said Secretary Mike Pompeo invited him for a further round of engagement and he was intending to meet him during his upcoming visit to the US to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York.
He said the atmosphere today was positive and the main reason behind it was that the United States had also renewed its policy and reached to the conclusion that solution to the Afghan issue lied in a negotiated settlement.
Here an alignment and cohesion between the two countries could be seen, he said, adding such a stance had already been propounded by Prime Minister Imran Khan that there was no military solution to the Afghan issue as it could be only achieved through political negotiations.  
During today’s meeting, the US also gave weight to such a solution and they hinted that now it was ready for direct talks with the Taliban, he added.
The foreign minister said the other meaningful thing, which appeared during the meeting, was that Washington did no longer want its footprints on the Afghan soil, however, they hinted no timeframe.
He also reiterated that the new government in Pakistan had a positive approach towards its neighbors in the region. “Forging good ties with our neighbors is the top agenda of the government which is based upon the welfare of its people,” he added
The foreign policy would be directed under the objectives of attaining stability, regional connectivity, and economic development, he said, adding Pakistan wanted to move ahead with this approach.
The foreign minister also announced that he would be undertaking his first visit to Afghanistan as Pakistan and Afghanistan were bound with different historical, cultural and religious affinities and their future was correlated. A stable and peaceful Afghanistan was vital for the progress of Pakistan and the region, he added.
He said that he told Secretary Pompeo clearly that if they wanted to proceed on bilateral ties, it required frank and candid talks.
Both the sides should listen to each other and the US side was told about the concerns and reservations as without addressing them, no development could take place, he added.
“Today we listened to them and presented our own views and concerns in an emphatic way,” he said. The foreign minister said Washington had to understand the public mandate the new government was vested with.
To a question, he said the meeting at the PM Office, which, besides Prime Minister Imran Khan, was also attended by Chief of Army Staff and Inter-Services Intelligence Director General, gave a clear message to Washington that the civilian and military leadership were on the same page.
About the US desire for Pakistan’s support in addressing the Afghan problem, the foreign minister said the US side was clearly told that Pakistan was ready to play its positive role. But for enhanced attention on its western border, Pakistan would require ease on the eastern border, he said and referred to the continued ceasefire violations by India on the Line of Control.
To a question about the suspension of $ 300 million Coalition Support Fund (CSF) by the United States, Foreign Minister Qureshi said the issue was not raised in today’s meeting as he did not consider it appropriate to talk about financial matters.

ii) US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, and other civilian and military leadership here today.  Secretary of State was accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.  Congratulating the Prime Minister on the formation of his government, the Secretary welcomed the further strengthening of civilian institutions.  Secretary Pompeo also highlighted the importance of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, and underscored areas of shared interest, such as the expansion of two-way trade and commercial ties. While meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary Pompeo discussed the potential for the United States and Pakistan to work together to advance joint priorities, including regional peace and stability.  He also emphasized the value of strong people-to-people ties between our nations, built on decades of cultural and educational exchanges. During his meeting with Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa, Secretary Pompeo welcomed the smooth transition of power to a new civilian government, stressing the importance of strong democratic institutions.  Secretary Pompeo also expressed hope for deeper counterterrorism cooperation between our nations. In all of his meetings, Secretary Pompeo emphasized the important role Pakistan could play in bringing about a negotiated peace in Afghanistan and conveyed the need for Pakistan to take sustained and decisive measures against terrorists and militants threatening regional peace and stability.

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SECRETARY POMPEO: We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum – economic, business, and commercial, the work that we all know that we need to do to try and develop a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan, which benefits certainly Afghanistan but also the United States and Pakistan.  And I’m hopeful that the foundation that we laid today will set the conditions for continued success as we start to move forward.

GENERAL DUNFORD:  And my job was to help support the Secretary as he – as he sought to reset the relationship.  When we talked to General Bajwa on the military-to-military level, we agreed that – we listened to the prime minister very carefully, we listened to the Secretary very carefully.  Their objectives were very consistent between the Secretary and the prime minister, and General Bajwa and I agreed that we will leverage the military-to-military relationship to support the Secretary and the prime minister, and more importantly, President Trump’s South Asia strategy.

QUESTION:  Did you get any firm commitments from the Pakistanis that would potentially merit the resumption of military security assistance?  Do you think they are a reliable partner going forward?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  So we’ve still got a long way to go, lots more discussion to be had, but the relationship military to military is one that has remained in a place where some of the other relationships haven’t, frankly.  They’ve still continued to have relationships, worked on lots of projects that are important together, and I hope we can use that as one of the foundational elements as well.

QUESTION:  Will the GLOCs continue to stay open?  Did the Pakistanis raise the issue of GLOC access?

GENERAL DUNFORD:  We don’t – we don’t have any reason to indicate that our cooperation in keeping the GLOCs open is going to change.  

QUESTION:  Was there any kind of U.S. warning of increased punitive action that financial sanctions against certain Pakistani individuals delivered during these talks that – if they don’t change their behavior, there are next steps?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  We made clear to them that – and they agreed – it’s time for us to begin to deliver on our joint commitments, right.  So we’ve had lots of times where we’ve talked and made agreements, but we haven’t been able to actually execute those.  And so there was broad agreement between myself and Foreign Minister Qureshi, as well as with the prime minister, that we need to begin to do things that will begin to actually, on the ground, deliver outcomes so that we can begin to build confidence and trust between the two countries.  That was the focus of the gathering.

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