Army chief holds talks with USA defence, military officials

General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also joined Carter in his meeting with Sharif.

“US will play its part and fully support any effort of Pakistan in fighting terrorism and extremism in any way”, the United States defence secretary was quoted as saying by the DG ISPR. The banquet was attended by top officials including Gen Austin and Gen Miley, said the ISPR spokesman.

Sharif, according to Bajwa, highlighted Pakistan’s perspective of regional challenges.

Pakistan has already successfully hosted a first round of direct talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government and the army chief would reiterate Pakistan’s role as a facilitator to bring both the parties to table.

This is the second time Gen Raheel has visited the U.S. this year and comes just a month after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Washington where he met US President Barack Obama. The afghan government however, holds Pakistan responsible for playing “double game’ and supporting terrorism in Afghanistan while only pretending to facilitate the talks”. This ongoing operation was launched in summer 2014 and has so far reportedly killed around 4000 Taliban rebels that also include a number of foreign militants that used this tribal belt as their training and logistic hub.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif spent whole of Tuesday at the Pentagon by holding meetings with top USA defence officials, with defence cooperation between the two countries dominating the discussion.

Pakistan’s army chief General Raheel Sharif has met Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, discussing key issues like re-initiating the fragile Afghan peace process and security challenges facing the region. “With his stock rising at home, Sharif has become increasingly active on the external policy front too”.

Director General ISPR, Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said in a series of tweets that United States values Pakistan and looks at its relations with Islamabad independent of all other countries.