Senior US official calls on Pakistan to exert more pressure on Taliban

American Ambassador David Hale addresses guests at ribbon-cutting ceremony at the U.S. Embassy, Islamabad on 02 July 2018 (Photo by US Embassy Islamabad)

Ambassador Alice Wells with Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on 02 July 2018, (Courtesy – Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry)

• Envoy Alice Wells visits Islamabad to discuss crisis in Afghanistan 

ISLAMABAD: After meeting the Afghan leadership in Kabul, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells visited Islamabad on Monday.
The US official held discussions with Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, Foreign Office spokesman Dr. Mohammad Faisal said on his twitter account.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Wells and Janjua reviewed bilateral relations and discussed regional issues with a focus on Afghanistan.
In Kabul on Sunday, the US envoy called on Pakistan to exert more pressure on the Taliban to get them to the negotiating table.
“Pakistan has an important role to play, but we have not yet seen that sustained and decisive action on the part of Islamabad,” Wells told reporters in Kabul.
“She underscored continued US support for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process and an honorable and dignified path to ending the conflict, as President Ashraf Ghani has offered,” the US Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.
“Both countries are adamant on their stated positions since the Trump administration took office in 2017. The statement that Alice Wells gave in Kabul shows that Washington still doubts Islamabad,” Qammar Cheema, an Islamabad-based analyst, told Arab News.
“There has not been a breakthrough between both states on Afghanistan, which shows relations have deteriorated and are hanging by a single thread which could free-fall any time,” Cheema added.
Meanwhile, US ambassador to Pakistan David Hale, visiting envoy Wells and Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations Project Director Tracy Thomas participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of a new consular facility, offices and residences.
“The new Embassy provides a modern and environmentally sustainable platform for diplomacy between our two nations,” said Ambassador Hale.
“It represents an enduring American commitment to the Pakistani people.” 
“Since work began in 2011, over 10,000 people have contributed 30 million work hours to complete the project, which added 24 billion rupees to the local economy through employment opportunities and the use of local products,” the US Embassy said in a statement.