US deputy state secretary to visit Pakistan next week

ISLAMABAD: US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman to visit Pakistan on October 7 on a two-day trip, the US State Department announced Monday.

Sherman, after CIA chief Bill Burns, will be one of the first high-level officials under President Joe Biden to visit Islamabad.

Sherman will meet senior officials in Islamabad on October 7-8 after an earlier visit to New Delhi.

Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and discussed the way forward in Afghanistan.

Read: WORLD MUST NOT REPEAT MISTAKE OF DISENGAGING WITH AFGHANISTAN, QURESHI TELLS BLINKEN

Secretary Blinken reiterated the importance of coordinating the diplomatic engagement and facilitating the departure of those wishing to leave Afghanistan.

Taking to Twitter, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he had reiterated Pakistan’s focus on a relationship with the US based on trade, investment, energy and regional connectivity.

He also emphasized the importance of the international community holding the Taliban to their commitments and recognise its moral obligation to help the Afghan people with the growing humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.

FM Qureshi called upon the international community to play a positive role and engage with the newly-formed Taliban government in Kabul.

FM Qureshi, who was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly session, held series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from around the world.