US President Donald Trump, during bilateral talks in the Oval Office with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, said the two leaders would have "great meetings." Khan was in the White House, Monday, July 22, as part of a three day visit to Washington.
Pakistani officials expressed hope that Khan and Trump will personally bond and help repair the relationship between Islamabad and Washington.
Both Khan, who was a cricket star, and Trump, a real estate developer, are wealthy populists who used their fame to win election to the top political jobs in their respective countries.
Pakistan has arranged Washington’s direct peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents who are fighting local and U.S.-led international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
The months-long U.S.-Taliban dialogue has brought the two adversaries in the 18-year-old Afghan war close to concluding a peace agreement to pave the ground for ending what has become the longest U.S. foreign military intervention.
The Taliban refuses to engage in peace talks with Afghan interlocutors until it concludes an agreement with Washington that would outline a timetable for withdrawal of all American troops. In exchange, the agreement will bind the insurgents to prevent foreign militants from using Taliban-controlled areas for international terrorism.
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