ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif will visit the United States next month for talks with senior US military commanders and defence officials.
This will be General Sharif’s first visit to the US as the army chief, a position he assumed on November 29, 2013.
Official sources said that General Sharif is coming to the US on a personal invitation from Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey.
During the week-long visit, starting on November 16, he is expected to meet Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, General Dempsey, and Commander of the US Central Command General Lloyd J Austin and other members of the American defence establishment.
He is also likely to visit Centcom headquarters in Tampa, Florida, as its area of responsibility includes both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The visit also marks the first formal consultations between the top military brass of the two countries after September 30, when the US and Afghanistan signed a bilateral treaty agreement.
The agreement paves the way for deployment some 10,000 US troops scheduled to remain in Afghanistan after a UN-sponsored international combat mission ends on December 31.
Diplomatic observers in Washington say that the agreement will have a direct impact on Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism in the areas bordering Afghanistan. INTERNEWS
