ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Pakistan and the US, after weeks of strained ties, have resumed cooperation on Afghan reconciliation process as a prelude to full normalisation of ties.

While ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha’s visit to Qatar last week for unannounced discussions with US officials on the Afghan peace process gave a whiff of impending thaw in bilateral ties, the sped up process for redefining the contours of relations bears clear indications that the estranged allies were set for another embrace.

The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), which had been tasked with the uneasy job of looking into the complicated relationship with Washington, has suddenly moved into top gear and is expected to finalise its recommendations in the next few days.

To quote a source, “drafting of proposals has commenced” even before the final and all-important briefing by the finance ministry on financial implications of the review exercise initiated in the aftermath of the Nov 26 Nato attacks on Pakistani border posts.

The PCNS, according to an observer who has been closely following its proceedings, would at best seek a transparent relationship that has clearly defined rules of engagement, but would at the same time reaffirm the importance of remaining engaged with America.

Talking to Dawn, PCNS Chairman Senator Raza Rabbani said that the committee would finalise the recommendations on the basis of various parliamentary resolutions and suggestions made at the envoys conference last month.

More importantly the military’s detailed rejoinder to the US report on the attacks, also expected later in the week, another source hinted, would be “mild and conciliatory” in sharp contrast to the lot of hot air expended on US ties after the Nato attacks in which two dozen troops lost their lives.

The rapprochement, which may be formally announced sometime later, has been forced by expediencies of both sides in the Afghan end-game.

Although a flurry of interactions, both public and behind the scenes, between Pakistan and the US have been taking place at various levels after the 26/11 border incident for resuscitating the ties, the game-changer was Gen Pasha’s Qatar trip.

Officially no one’s ready to speak on the issue because of the sensitivity of the discussions. However, both diplomats at the Foreign Office and senior military officials admit during their private conversations that Afghan reconciliation compelled them to resume contacts.

“Reconciliation is continuing and we cannot isolate ourselves from it,” an official noted and added that the Doha meeting was for getting back into the loop. This clearly reflects a change of thinking because the government only last month boycotted the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan “in the larger interest of Pakistan”.