US official arrives in Islamabad for security talks
ISLAMABAD: US National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster arrived in Islamabad on Monday on an unannounced visit, a day after he hinted the US could take a tougher stance on Pakistan.
It was the first visit by a top member of US President Donald Trump’s administration to the militancy-hit South Asian country, and came after a stop in neighboring Afghanistan where he suggested Washington may take a stronger line on Islamabad, for years seen as an unreliable US ally.
A statement issued by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office said McMaster had “assured the premier that the new administration was committed to strengthening bilateral relations and working with Pakistan, to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan and in the wider South Asian region.”
McMaster’s visits are being closely watched for clues as to the Trump administration’s future course of action in the region.
“As all of us have hoped for many many years, we have hoped that Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups less selectively than they have in the past and the best way to pursue their interest in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through diplomacy not through the use of proxies that engage in violence,” McMaster said in an interview with Afghanistan’s Tolo News.
The Pakistani statement added that McMaster’s delegation included Lisa Curtis, who US media have previously reported as his pick as senior director for South and Central Asia.
Curtis recently co-authored a paper calling on the US to stop treating Pakistan as an ally and instead “focus on diplomatically isolating” it if it continues to support groups that have links to international terror.