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WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan had not reach any agreement in the two-day talks that concluded in Islamabad on Friday, the US State Department said, but added that consultations would continue.
“There were no agreements reached today,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told a briefing in Washington. “This is the beginning of the reengagement conversation. We’re going to have to work through these issues and it’s going to take some time.”
The talks focused on three major issues: the reopening of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan, halting drone strikes inside Pakistan and a US apology over the Nov 26 strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. No agreement was reached on any of these issues.
Ms Nuland noted that the US team, which participated in bilateral talks and a trilateral meeting, including Afghanistan, consisted of representatives from the State Department, Department of Defence, National Security and members of the intelligence community.
The Pakistani team included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Interior and others, she said.
The US, Pakistan and Afghanistan also discussed the process of reconciliation with the Taliban militants.
“With regard to reconciliation, we talked bilaterally about where we are. They also talked about it in the core group meeting, Afghanistan-Pakistan,” Ms Nuland said.
“But we have a situation where the Taliban have not decided whether they want to participate. They’re in a pause phase. They know what they need to do if they want to move this forward.”
Ms Nuland rejected the suggestion from a journalist that Ambassador Grossman had a meeting with a person who was no longer Pakistan’s prime minister.
“Your information is inaccurate,” said the US official. “There was a court decision. He was given a thirty second sentence. And he remains the prime minister of Pakistan. And as such we continue to work with him.”
