ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: The United States announced on Thursday resumption of its suspended ‘strategic dialogue’ with Pakistan but cautioned that the country would have to eradicate ‘terrorist safe havens’ from its territory for the relationship to progress.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who was here on his first visit after moving to the US State Department and the change of government in Pakistan, firmly but politely told the Pakistani authorities that they needed to move decisively on eradicating violent extremism from the country and more specifically tackling the issue of cross-border militancy that is said to be posing threat not only to US interests, but also to its allies in the region.

“Choice for Pakistan is clear. Will the forces of violent extremism be allowed to grow more dominantly, eventually overpowering the moderate majority,” Secretary Kerry said as he announced that Pakistan and the US would be resuming the strategic dialogue that had been suspended following the challenging events of 2011.

The US hopes to address most of the issues of concern to it, including border management, counter-terrorism and non-proliferation, which Mr Kerry referred to as “irritants”, during the strategic dialogue process whose ministerial session will take place in six months but working groups will meet earlier.

Mr Kerry discussed the issue of cross-border militancy at length in his talks at the Foreign Office and with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He again flagged the matter during his talks with Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at a dinner.

Secretary Kerry on more than one occasion during his joint press conference with Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz underscored that the offer to move the relationship back to the higher plane of “full partnership” came with the condition of effectively tackling terrorism that has claimed some 50,000 Pakistani lives in the past 10 years.

“Addressing the threat posed by cross-border militancy is key aspect of our strategic dialogue,” he said.

He said the resumed dialogue was meant to “advance shared vision of future that is marked by peace, stability and prosperity”.

Discussions on counter-terrorism will continue in the strategic dialogue, while President Barack Obama is likely to take up the matter with Prime Minister Sharif when he meets him in Washington later this year.

The prime minister has been invited by President Obama to visit the White House. Although no date has been mentioned, it appears that the visit to Washington may take place along with the PM’s trip to New York for the UN session in September.

“The conversation would continue. I expect lot of progress, lot of definition to come to the forefront. I’m confident that we are going to find effective ways to manage the challenges,” Mr Kerry said.

He skilfully mixed his expression of concerns with deference for people of Pakistan, the armed forces and the government.

Referring to the ups and downs in the relationship in the past, he said: “We cannot allow events that might divide us in small ways to distract from common values and common interests that unite us in big ways. Common interests far exceed, far outweigh any differences.”

He said the relationship was not defined by the “threats we face”, it was rather about helping the people of Pakistan at this critical juncture by contributing to economic revival.

Mr Kerry praised Pakistan’s “march towards democracy” and contributions to reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan and saluted the losses suffered by the armed forced because of militancy.

Drone attacks

The controversy over CIA operated pilotless drones also came up during the US secretary’s meetings.

Mr Kerry hinted at continuation of the drone attacks, saying President Obama had laid out the legal justification of the strikes in a policy speech a few months ago.

Mr Kerry hit out at the assertions that drones violated Pakistan’s sovereignty, saying it were Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri and terrorists attacking people in mosques and markets who were trampling the country’s sovereignty.

Adviser Aziz conceded that Pakistan’s call for stopping drone attacks had been rejected and said the “discussions will continue”.

He said all tribal agencies had been cleared of militants, except for North Waziristan.

He said the government would first attempt to hold dialogue with the militants and would launch an offensive only if talks failed.

Mr Aziz also mentioned that an all-parties conference was being convened to develop a national response to domestic terrorism.

Secretary Kerry also called on outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari and telephoned president-elect Mamnoon Hussain.

IMRAN: PTI chief Imran Khan, who had been invited to meet the visiting secretary, preferred to see him at the residence of US deputy chief of mission Richard Hoagland, outside the diplomatic enclave.

“The US secretary of state listened to Mr Khan’s perspective and the meeting was held in a cordial manner,” The PTI said in a statement on the 30-minute meeting in which the party’s chief repeated his stance on drones and the ‘war on terror’.

Mr Kerry visited a power station near Zero Point. The USAID has funded the installation of ‘smart meters’ at the grid station.

During his talks earlier in the day, he reiterated US commitment to supporting the Diamer-Bhasha dam project.

He also visited the Fatima Jinnah University.

Reuters/AFP add: Mr Kerry told PTV that President Obama had a timeline for ending the US programme of drone strikes.

“I think the programme will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it.

“The president has a very real timeline and we hope it’s going to be very, very soon,” he said in reply to a question.

EGYPT: In an interview to a private TV channel, Mr Kerry said the Egyptian army which had deposed President Mohamed Morsi had intervened at the request of millions of people to protect democracy. “In effect, they were restoring democracy,” he added.