July 15: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton would hold “most vital” high-level security talks in Islamabad before landing in Kabul for the donors conference scheduled to be held on July 20, America’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke has said. Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Holbrooke said Ms Clinton is likely to meet several top officials besides holding talks with Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during her stop over in Islamabad.
“During her upcoming visit to Pakistan, secretary Clinton will reconvene the strategic dialogue with foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to assess growing cooperation on topics ranging from energy and water, to education and health, to counter-terrorism and defence issues,” the News quoted Mr Holbrooke, as saying.
“She will also meet with a range of senior Pakistani officials to encourage closer collaboration in areas of mutual interest,” he added. Earlier, the state department had announced that Ms Clinton would attend a donors’ conference in Kabul as part of the largest gathering of foreign leaders in the war-torn country. During the July 20-21 conference, the world leaders would assess Afghanistan’s follow-up plans to improve security, governance and other issues, paving the way for the US to remove some troops from the country by 2010.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Thursday called on President Asif Ali Zardari and Premier Yousaf Raza Gilani and discussed with them the overall security situation in the country, ahead of external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s meeting with the two leaders. Gen. Kayani discussed with Mr Zardari the security situation in the country and operational matters of the Army, an official statement said. The Army Chief also went to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, where Gen. Kayani and Mr Gilani discussed the overall security situation in the country.