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Obama invites Pakistan's PM to White House as Susan Rice visits Islamabad Obama invites Pakistan's PM to White House as Susan Rice visits Islamabad
(about 4 hours later)
Barack Obama has invited Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to visit the White House in October, US national security adviser Susan Rice said in a tweet on Sunday.
Rice traveled to Pakistan to meet with senior officials to “advance our mutual interests and address areas of concern, particularly terrorist and militant attacks emanating from Pakistani soil”, a senior US official said on Saturday.
“Conveyed @POTUS invitation to PM Sharif to visit the @WhiteHouse in October to continue discussions”, said the tweet at m.twitter.com/AmbassadorRice.
Rice’s visit to Islamabad, part of an Asian tour that included an earlier stop in China, comes amid uncertainty over whether the US will release $300m in military aid to Pakistan.
Media reports have suggested the money could be held back if the US determines Pakistan is not doing enough to combat the Haqqani network, which has launched some of the deadliest attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Rice “will address areas of mutual interest and of concern, including terrorist and militant attacks emanating from Pakistani soil”, said a senior US official who asked not to be identified.
Related: Pakistani religious party leaders urged to help revive Taliban peace talksRelated: Pakistani religious party leaders urged to help revive Taliban peace talks
The official said Rice’s visit was not in response to recent escalating tension between Pakistan and arch-rival India, who canceled planned peace talks last weekend. Nine people were killed during an exchange of fire on Friday along a border disputed by India and Pakistan. President Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, warned Pakistani political and military leaders on Sunday that recent attacks in Afghanistan by militants based in the country threaten regional security, an official said.
The US has urged Pakistan and India to get reconciliation talks back on track. Rice also delivered an invitation from Obama for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to visit the US in October, the US National Security Council said.
Rice met Sharif on Sunday and was expected to meet General Raheel Sharif, the army chief of staff, later in the day. The meetings came at a tense time for Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan and arch-rival India, along with uncertainty over whether the US will release $300m in military aid to Pakistan.
“Dr Rice expressed deep appreciation for the sacrifices made by Pakistan in the efforts to root out terrorism and extremism and the success achieved so far,” a statement from Sharif’s office said. Media reports have suggested the money could be held back if the US determines Pakistan is not doing enough to combat the Haqqani network, accused of some of the deadliest attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s military has been waging a fierce offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and its radical Islamist allies in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, since last year. A senior US official who briefed reporters in Islamabad said Rice brought up this month’s rash of attacks that killed more than 50 people in the Afghan capital as an example of how militants based in Pakistan continue to destabilise much of south Asia.
Some have questioned whether the leadership of the Haqqani network, which is allied with but separate from the Taliban, had been allowed to leave to avoid the brunt of the assault. “We think a series of recent deadly attacks in Kabul were perpetrated by the Haqqani network,” the official said. “This is absolutely unacceptable.”
The US is also keen to gain Pakistan’s help in resurrecting peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the government in Kabul. In 2011, the Haqqani network was described as a “veritable arm” of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency – Pakistan’s powerful military spy wing – by the then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The tentative process toward negotiating an end to almost 14 years of war in Afghanistan was thrown into disarray last month with the revelation that longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for two years. Pakistan denies supporting the Haqqani network, an Islamist movement loosely allied with both the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida.
The latest Kabul attacks came after the revelation that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for two years, which derailed nascent peace talks initially hosted by Pakistan between the Taliban and the western-backed government in Kabul.
Militant attacks have “developed into a key point of regional friction. Addressing this challenge will be imperative for Pakistan’s relations with its neighbour and with Washington”, the US official said.
Rice met with powerful military chief General Raheel Sharif as well as local political activists during her two-day visit to Islamabad. She urged Pakistan to end escalating tension with India, which cancelled planned peace talks last weekend. Nine people were killed during an exchange of fire on Friday along a disputed border.
Prime Minister Sharif’s office on Sunday hailed Rice’s visit and said Rice “expressed deep appreciation” for the cooperation the allies have had in combating radical Islamist militancy.
Pakistan’s military has been waging an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and its radical Islamist allies in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, since last year.