DM Monitoring
WASHINGTON: The national security advisers (NSA) of Pakistan and the United States met in Washington, where they discussed the “urgent need for reduction in violence and a negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan”.
NSA Moeed Yusuf and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan waited till Thursday evening to confirm their meeting, posting brief tweets stating that their talks also covered other issues of mutual interest. This was the second meeting between the two officials who first met in Geneva in March.
“Had a positive follow-up meeting with NSA Jake Sullivan today in Washington,” Yusuf said in his tweet. “Took stock of progress made since our Geneva meeting and discussed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.”
Yusuf also said that the two sides “agreed to sustain the momentum in Pak-US bilateral cooperation”.
He did not mention Afghanistan among the issues discussed in the meeting but Sullivan devoted half of his tweet to the Afghan issue.
“I met with Pakistan’s NSA today to consult on regional connectivity and security, and other areas of mutual cooperation,” he said.
“We discussed the urgent need for a reduction in violence in Afghanistan and a negotiated political settlement to the conflict.”
The icebreaker in Geneva was the first highest-level physical contact between the two countries since the Biden administration took office.
US State Secretary Antony Blinken had spoken twice to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa before the Geneva meeting. Similarly, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had also been in touch with Gen Bajwa.
Blinken, who returned to Washington on Thursday evening after a visit to India and Kuwait, told an Indian television channel earlier in the day that Pakistan has a vital influence on the Taliban and the United States wants Islamabad to play that role.
“Pakistan has a vital role to play in using its influence with the Taliban to do whatever it can to make sure that the Taliban does not seek to take the country by force,” he told media. “And it does have influence, and it does have a role to play, and we hope that it plays it,” he added.
