Before the official meeting by the USA state secretary Mike Pompeo visit to Pakistan, the army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the new Prime Minister Imran Khan held a meeting on September 3, 2018, to discuss the strain relations between the US-Pakistan relations. Mr. Bajwa held his first meeting with PM Khan on August 27 to discuss the efforts to ensure the long-lasting peace and stability in the region. This was his third meeting with the PM since the swearing ceremony.
According to a PM Office handout, ‘matters related to security’ was discussed in the moot. However, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf through its official Twitter account later elaborated that “Defense Day, US-Pakistan relations, and internal and external security situation” came under discussion.
Mike Pompeo’s visit is scheduled tomorrow on September 5, 2018 and meeting between the PM and General Chief Secretary was significant as the US is expected to demand support from Pakistan to bring Taliban to the negotiating table. Recently, US’s decision to cut US$ 300 million payment to Islamabad under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) has troubled the relations between the two relations.
To this, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi made a remark stating, “This is not an aid. This is the money that we have spent in the fight against terrorism,” the foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi insisted on Sunday but stopped short of denouncing the US move.