Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will meet US State Secretary Marco Rubio in Washington on July 25, officials confirmed Wednesday.
This will be DAR’s first official meeting with secretary Rubio. The agenda will include a review of Pakistan-USA tape, regional developments, especially recent India-Pakistan tensions and other issues of mutual interest.
The American spokesman for the state department Tammy Bruce said that senior officials from both nations would be present and that she would attend the meeting.
In response to a question on a press briefing about whether the United States supports direct communication between Pakistan and India at Kashmir, as it does on the Indus Waters Treaty, spokesman for the Tammy Bruce state department offered a measured response.
“We have Pakistan there must be here for a bilat, and I do [be] Participating in it, so I look forward to it too, ”Bruce said.
We have Pakistan there must be here for a bilat and I will [be] Participating in it, so I look forward to it too
Tammy Bruce
The comments follow renewed regional tensions and earlier efforts by President Trump to mediate between India and Pakistan, including at Kashmir. Trump previously offered to host conversations between the two countries during a Saudi Arabia summit.
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The meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and US Secretary of State will follow Pakistan’s nomination of President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize – recognized what the government called Trump’s “extraordinary role” in restoring calm in South Asia.
On May 7, the Indian Air Force conducted an unprovoked attack on civilian targets in Pakistan, claiming New Delhi had targeted “terror infrastructure”. The strikes killed several Pakistani civilians and harm many more. Pakistan Air Force (PAF), encrypted to counter the Indian air threat, shot down six IAF fighter jets including three French-made Rafales.
The strikes set aside an exchange of attacks between the two countries of fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery that killed dozens until a ceasefire on May 10th.
The fluid’s ceasefire was first announced by US President Donald Trump on social media after Washington held conversations with both sides, but India has been different with Trump’s claims that it was due to his intervention and threats of interrupting trade interviews.
India’s attitude has been that New Delhi and Islamabad should solve their problems directly and without involvement outside.
