Islamabad :
National Security Adviser (NSA) Moeed Youssef has left for an official visit to the United States as part of a high-level engagement agreement reached between him and US National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan during a meeting in Geneva in May.
During the visit, Moeed Yousuf will meet with Jack Sullivan to review the progress being made in bilateral relations between the United States and Pakistan.
He will also meet with other US lawmakers, senior officials, US-based think tanks, the media and the Pakistani community.
According to a Dawn report, their first meeting on May 24 was seen as an icebreaker, the first high-level direct contact between the two countries since US President Joe Biden took office.
Special Assistant for National Security Moeed Yousaf complained that in the early days, the new US administration was not giving Pakistan enough time.
His US counterpart claimed that the Code 19 epidemic was caused by the administration’s inattention to internal affairs. The US National Security Adviser also called for increased and maintained bilateral engagement between the United States and Pakistan. The discussion between the two leaders was later described as ‘positive’.
The Dawn report also noted US aspirations to see Pakistan as a key player in the evolving situation and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, where the United States believed that the Pakistani Taliban had reached a political settlement with the Afghan government. The Taliban could be influenced to bring it to fruition.
The two leaders also met at a time when the Pentagon had revealed that Pakistan had given the US military access to its airspace and land borders to ensure its presence in Afghanistan.
Shortly afterwards, the State Department denied media reports that the United States had allowed Pakistan to use its territory, saying that Pakistan had not provided the United States with an army or air base.
Later, Prime Minister Imran had said that Pakistan would never allow the United States to use any of its bases and territory for any kind of operation inside Afghanistan.
In an interview with HBO, he said, “Absolutely not (in any case, we will not allow Pakistani territory to use any base or territory for any of our operations in Afghanistan.”) ۔
It also created the impression that the distance between the United States and Pakistan, which has long been an ally in the US war in Afghanistan, was widening.
The impression was further deepened when Prime Minister Imran Khan last month insisted that it was “unfair” for the US and Western powers to put “pressure” on countries like Pakistan to cut ties with China. ۔
The Prime Minister had said that despite the pressure, Pakistan would not change or reduce its relations with China as the relations were very “deep”.
He said in an interview with China Global TV Network, China’s state-run English-language broadcaster, “Whatever happens, no matter how much pressure is put on us, our relationship between the two countries will not change.”
Given this situation, it is likely that Moeed Yousuf’s visit to the United States will be seen as an important step in changing US-Pakistan relations, especially since the recent visit of US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken to India. And stressed the need for strong relations between Pakistan.
