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                 US, Pakistan Seek to Mend Fraying Relationship

   by Ayaz Gul

   Senior U.S. officials held "candid discussions" with their counterparts
   in Pakistan Friday on issues, including the recent drone attack that
   killed the Afghan Taliban's chief in Pakistan and put fresh strains on
   already uneasy bilateral relations.

   The prime minister's adviser on foreign policy, Sartaj Aziz, led the
   Pakistani delegation. The U.S. team included Peter Lavoy, senior
   director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U.S. National Security
   Council, and Richard Olson, the U.S. special representative to the two
   neighboring countries.

   "The adviser conveyed a strong message to the United States that the
   May 21 drone strike was not only a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty
   and a breach of principles of the United Nations Charter, but has also
   vitiated bilateral ties," said a statement issued after the meeting.

   Peace talks
   Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, China and the United States, was
   engaged in "serious efforts" to revive peace and reconciliation talks
   between the Afghan government and the Taliban, but the drone strike has
   "seriously undermined" those efforts, Aziz told the U.S. delegation.

   Pakistani authorities contend that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar
   Mansoor had been about to agree to join peace talks between the warring
   sides in Afghanistan at the time he was killed in the drone strike.

   "It was emphasized that any future drone strike in Pakistan will be
   detrimental to our common desire to strengthen relations," said the
   statement.

   The U.S. drone attack targeted and killed Mansoor while he was in a
   vehicle traveling through Pakistan's border province of Baluchistan,
   under a pseudonym, following a secret trip to Iran.

   ''

   U.S. and Afghan officials have long maintained that Taliban leaders are
   freely using Pakistani soil for plotting and staging attacks in
   Afghanistan. Islamabad denies its intelligence agency supports the
   Islamist insurgency.

   U.S. delegates again raised that issue in Friday's discussions.

   Counterterrorism measures
   "In response to U.S. queries on safe havens for the Taliban, it was
   emphasized that Pakistan is already pursuing its objective of
   eliminating all militants and terrorists from its soil," the statement
   said, referring to Islamabad's counterterrorism measures.

   Pakistani officials conveyed to U.S. interlocutors their concerns about
   the presence on Afghan soil of fugitive militants of the outlawed
   Pakistani Taliban or TTP.

   "Pakistan also expects action by Afghan forces against TTP operatives
   in Afghanistan. These steps would also help to promote better relations
   between Afghanistan and Pakistan and reduce mistrust," noted the
   statement.

   It quoted Lavoy of the U.S. delegation as reiterating that President
   Barack Obama was committed to improving relations with Pakistan.

   Despite renewed tensions, Aziz told reporters ahead of Friday's meeting
   that Islamabad's relations with Washington "are still relevant and
   important." He was responding to questions on whether deepening defense
   ties between the U.S. and Pakistan's archrival India were working in
   Islamabad.

   "If their relationship with India upsets the conventional and nuclear
   balance in the region, it would affect our ties and would also be
   detrimental for peace in the region," said the Pakistani adviser.

   Members of the U.S. delegation later met with Pakistan's military
   chief, General Raheel Sharif. They were joined by General John
   Nicholson, commander of the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.

   A statement issued after the meeting said General Sharif expressed his
   "serious concern" about the U.S. drone strike and said that blaming
   Pakistan for instability in Afghanistan is unfortunate.

   "All stakeholders need to understand Pakistan's challenges with regard
   to a porous border, inter-tribal linkages and the decades-old presence
   of over 3 million [Afghan] refugees," Sharif told the U.S. delegates.

   He also demanded that TTP militants and their chief, Mullah Fazlullah,
   be targeted "in their bases in Afghanistan" and reiterated Pakistan's
   resolve not to allow Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies to foment
   terrorism in his country.

   Officials in Islamabad allege the Afghan spy agency supports and funds
   TTP's anti-Pakistan activities and have leveled similar charges against
   India. India denies the allegation.


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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-pakistan-seek-to-mend-fraying-rela
   tionship/3370564.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-pakistan-seek-to-mend-fraying-relationship/3370564.html