The prime minister’s special assistant on foreign affairs, Tariq Fatemi, who is visiting the United States for familiarisation meetings with the Trump team, is hoping to meet some members of the incoming administration early next week. Mr Fatemi, however, has held a series of meetings with senior officials of the outgoing Obama administration and US lawmakers. Such meetings are highlighted in press releases issued by the Pakistan Embassy, which claims that these talks have helped create a better understanding of Pakistan’s position on various issues. So far, the only comment from the US side came from the State Department’s deputy spokesman Mark Toner who said that US officials did discuss “a range of bilateral and regional” issues with Mr Fatemi and these included “regional stability and counterterrorism cooperation”. But he did not say if the meetings helped resolve the differences that have strained Pakistan’s relations with the United States.
Pakistan has been trying to reach out to the President-elect Trump’s administration since his election since November 2016, presidential elections. Recently, a telephone call between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President-elect Trump had come under severe scrutiny by the US media after the Government of Pakistan released the readout of the call. Trump administration had also expressed concerns over this breach of the diplomatic norm by Pakistan.
