WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will discuss ways to advance shared interests of their countries when they meet later this week, says the White House.

The prime minister arrives in Washington on Sunday on an official visit, which includes a meeting with President Obama at the White House on Oct 23. US Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the meeting along with other senior members of the Obama administration.

“The meeting will highlight the importance and resilience of the US-Pakistan relationship and provide an opportunity for us to strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual concern,” said a statement the White House issued on Friday evening.

The White House identified these issues as energy, trade and economic development, regional stability, and countering violent extremism.

“The president looks forward to discussions with Prime Minister Sharif on ways we can advance our shared interest of a stable, secure, and prosperous Pakistan,” it added.

The statement, although brief, conveys Washington’s desire to stay engaged with Pakistan as it prepares to withdraw most of its troops from Afghanistan. Yet, the word Afghanistan is missing from the statement. Instead, the stress is on Pakistan, even while talking about “countering violent extremism”.

The United States also conveyed its eagerness to help Pakistan fight extremists when it snatched a senior leader of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Latif Mehsud, from Afghan intelligence operatives earlier this month. The Afghans, who apparently wanted to use Mehsud against Pakistan, were infuriated and demanded an explanation from Washington.

The explanation that the US State Department provided further annoyed the Afghans.

Mehsud belongs to a group which had “claimed responsibility…for the attempted bombing of Times Square in 2010 and has vowed to attack the US homeland again,” the State Department reminded Kabul. “TPP is also responsible for attacking our diplomats in Pakistan and attacks that have killed countless Pakistani civilians.”

The action came when US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Kabul to negotiate a deal for keeping some American troops in Afghanistan after 2014 and could have squandered the talks.

The White House issued two statements about the prime minister’s meeting with President Obama since it was confirmed during Mr Sharif’s visit to the UN last month. Both statements not only underlined the need to combat terrorism but also stressed the US desire to help Pakistan overcome its energy crisis.

There seems to be a realisation in Washington that not helping Pakistan resolve its energy crisis can destabilise the whole region. That’s why the Americans are also supporting the Dasu dam project while American companies are showing keen interest in other public and private energy projects in the country.

As Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told a media briefing in Washington last week, the Obama administration has also agreed not to oppose Pakistan’s efforts to switch from oil to coal for producing electricity, although it goes against the US policy of promoting clean energy.

Pakistan is also trying to benefit from a recent improvement in US relations with Iran by urging Americans not to oppose the Iran gas pipeline project.

The emphasis on energy and stressing the need for trade and economic development is apparently also intended to convey another important message: the US does not intend to dump Pakistan after 2014 as it did after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.

The message makes it clear that the US wants a long-term relationship with Pakistan which goes beyond terrorism and includes Islamabad’s economic and political interests as well.

Another subject that the United States is keen on but which has not been mentioned in the White House statements is encouraging India and Pakistan to improve their ties.

US policymakers say it publicly that there can never be peace in Afghanistan unless India and Pakistan were on the same page on this issue. They also say that as nuclear states, India and Pakistan cannot afford to have prolonged tensions.

Aware of regional sensitivities, the White House avoided mentioning India-Pakistan ties in its statement. Instead, it used a generic term, promoting “regional stability”.