US, Pakistan seek stability amid Afghan doubts

25 Jan AFP

The United States and Pakistan resume talks next week after a three-year hiatus as they seek stability in often turbulent ties amid mutual concerns over Afghanistan's future.

Pakistan and the United States started a "strategic dialogue" in 2010 to work through their complicated relationship, but the talks were quickly frozen due to repeated crises including over the secret 2011 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who announced a resumption of the talks during a visit to Islamabad in August, will hold the dialogue in Washington with Sartaj Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's national security adviser.

A US official said that the talks would look at both security and economic cooperation and seek to build a "blueprint" for future ties.

"Having seen the highs and lows of this relationship," the official said on condition of anonymity, "both countries have put an enormous amount of effort into assiduously putting this relationship on firmer grounding over the last year and a half." The United States, which formed an uneasy partnership with Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, is seeking Islamabad's assistance again as it pulls tens of thousands of troops from Afghanistan this year and Washington ends its longest-ever war.

US President Barack Obama's administration has grown frustrated as Afghan President Hamid Karzai holds off on signing a security agreement that would allow a smaller number of troops from the United States and the rest of the NATO alliance to stay in a support role.