ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: Army top brass met on Friday amid reports of Pakistan and the United States moving towards enhanced counter-terrorism cooperation following improvement in their relations. The meeting of corps commanders started late in the evening and was expected to continue late into the night.

As is the usual practice there was complete silence about the agenda of the conference. The standard statement from military’s public affairs wing, ISPR, said: “The monthly conference would discuss routine professional matters.”

However, events preceding the Friday session suggested that the agenda had something extraordinary. It was unusual for Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee to have met President Asif Ali Zardari ahead of the commanders’ conference.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of improvements in relations and more importantly the maiden visit of ISI chief Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam to Washington for engagements at CIA that have been described by both sides as ‘productive’.

Gen Islam was to brief the commanders on his discussions at Langley.

At his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said that subsequent to the visit of the ISI chief both sides were working on a number of proposals.