https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistani-arm ... 80623.html
Pakistani Army Chief's US Visit Seen as Bid to Redefine Ties
Sarah Zaman, October 07, 2022
A recently concluded six-day visit to Washington by Pakistan’s powerful military head, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, is being seen in both countries as a sign that Islamabad is seeking to mend sometimes-strained relations with the West.
Public statements released by officials from both countries emphasized finding areas to cooperate on, following years of mistrust and suspicion during the two-decade-long U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
Bajwa, whose second three-year term ends in a few weeks, was welcomed at the Defense Department by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for a meeting Tuesday with senior American military officials.
In a brief statement highlighting the 75-year history of relations between the U.S. and Pakistan, the Pentagon said, "This long-standing partnership continues today with discussions focused on opportunities to address key mutual defense interests." A day later, Austin tweeted a picture of himself greeting Bajwa (seen above).
According to a statement issued by ISPR, the Pakistani military's media wing, Gen. Bajwa also discussed deepening ties beyond security and intelligence. It said U.S. officials agreed that the historic ties between both countries "shall continue improving through economic ties, trade and investment" and the Bajwa stressed the need for continued assistance to Pakistan for flood relief and rehabilitation after this summer's devastating monsoon rains.
During his tour, Bajwa also met with White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, according to the Pakistani military’s media wing. The State Department declined to comment on “the specifics of private diplomatic conversations.”
Afghanistan factor
This visit, Bajwa’s first since 2019, came more than a year after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Islamabad’s former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, told VOA, however, that while Pakistan does not want to be ignored by the global power, the U.S. now has a more modest need for Pakistan.
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India factor
Just a few weeks before the Pakistani military chief’s visit to Washington, the Biden administration asked Congress to approve a $450 million foreign military sale to Pakistan to service the country’s F-16 fighter jets, most of which are decades old.
Despite this proposal, “The United States has not resumed large-scale bilateral security assistance to Pakistan,” the State Department told VOA. Such assistance has been suspended since 2018.
Nevertheless, the move irked India, which fears Pakistan could use the fighter planes against it, even though the sale agreement requires that the jets be used only for counterterrorism purposes.
“Now that India is closer to the United States than Pakistan is, they would like to keep it that way,” Haqqani said.
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Gautam
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: Around 500 unidentified bodies have been found on the rooftop of a Hospital in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
