US, Pakistan To Re-Engage On Afghan Peace After Diplomatic 'Reset'

AVA- Washington and Islamabad stopped short of announcing any tangible steps for the re-engagement however, after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Pakistani political and military leaders in the capital Islamabad.
"We talked about their new government, the opportunity to reset the relationship between our two countries across a broad spectrum - economic, business, and commercial," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, according to a statement from the State Department.
"The stalemate is broken today ... and it is a positive development," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said after meeting Pompeo and General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pompeo also met recently-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan and army chief Qamar Bajwa in his few hours stop-over in Islamabad en route to neighboring India.
Relations between the USA and Pakistan took a nosedive when US President Donald Trump unveiled new strategy for the region and accused Pakistan of harboring Islamist militants who attack international forces in Afghanistan.
Days before Pompeo's visit, the Pentagon announced to cancel 300 million US dollar aid to Pakistani military. Islamabad reacted angrily to the move.
Qureshi said the US, like Pakistan, wants a political rather than military solution in Afghanistan.
"That's where I feel we have convergence of opinion and I think we can move forward on this," Qureshi said.
But Qureshi linked Pakistan's support for re-engagement on Afghanistan with US help for peace efforts between Pakistan and India, a nuclear-armed neighbor with a history of conflicts and wars.
"If we have to focus on our west (Afghanistan), we need to have an ease on our east (India)," Qureshi said.
Pakistan's new government said after taking over in August that it wanted to revive peace talks with India, which stalled since 2008 after a deadly militants attack in the Indian city of Mumbai.
Pakistani side did not elaborate how two war on terror allies plan to move forward to seek peace in Afghanistan and there was no word from the US side about the meetings.
A planned joint presser by Pompeo and Qureshi was cancelled at the last minute.
The US State Department said Pompeo pushed Pakistan for action against militants, reiterating a long-standing American demand.
Diplomatic sources said Pompeo pushed Pakistani side to take action to eliminate sanctuaries allegedly used by Islamist militants in the tribal regions near Afghan border.
"There was some real tough talking ... Americans want action and a quick one," a diplomat said.
After travelling onto India, Pompeo and US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis are due on Thursday to meet their counterparts from India's Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministries in the first-ever "2+2" format ministerial dialogue in New Delhi.