ISLAMABAD: A seven-member team from the United States, led by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, will arrive in Islamabad Thursday on a two-day visit.
Sherman, after Central Intelligence Agency chief William J. Burns, will be one of the first high-level officials under President Joe Biden to visit Pakistan — and after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August.
Sherman will meet senior officials in Islamabad after an earlier visit to New Delhi and Mumbai on October 6-7, when she will meet officials and civil society leaders and address the US-India Business council’s annual “ideas summit,” the State Department said last week.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested the Civil Aviation Authority to exempt the visiting delegation from mandatory body search, photographing and asked the state lounge be allocated for their stay.
The delegation will also be exempted from the RT-PCR testing, the letter suggested.
The foreign ministry officials be allowed access to the parking area of the state lounge and five people from the State Department and the US embassy in Islamabad be issued entry passes, it added.
The trip comes as India, one of the top allies of the Western-backed Ashraf Ghani government of Afghanistan that collapsed in the face of Taliban offences, as well as the US, ramps up propaganda campaign to scapegoat Pakistan for the collapse of the Ghani regime.
Pakistan was one of the backers of the 1996-2001 Taliban regime and has been accused by US officials of keeping the insurgents alive through covert support.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an opinion piece published last month in The Washington Post, called his country a “convenient scapegoat.”
“In Afghanistan, the lack of legitimacy for an outsider’s protracted war was compounded by a corrupt and inept Afghan government, seen as a puppet regime without credibility, especially by rural Afghans,” he wrote, elaborating on themes in his address to the UN General Assembly.
He urged the world to engage the Taliban government “to ensure peace and stability.”
Following the article, Sherman called on Pakistan to take action against all extremist groups.
“We seek a strong partnership with Pakistan on counterterrorism and we expect sustained action against all militant and terrorist groups without distinction,” she told reporters.
“Both of our countries have suffered terribly from the scourge of terrorism and we look forward to cooperative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats,” she said from Switzerland, her first stop on a trip that will also take her to India and Uzbekistan.
Prime Minister Khan has encouraged the world to engage Afghanistan’s Taliban and provide economic support, although he has stopped short of backing recognition — a step opposed by the United States.
Sherman praised Pakistan’s calls for an inclusive government in Afghanistan. “We look to Pakistan to play a critical role in enabling that outcome,” she said.
— With additional input from AFP
