Dobbins, Sharif confer on US withdrawal

ISLAMABAD (PAN): US Special Representative Ambassador James Dobbins met Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday and conferred on a whole host of issues of bilateral and regional interest, an official said.

Withdrawal of US forces from the region, drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal region and the Afghan-led peace process figured prominently at the meeting in Islamabad, a foreign ministry official told Pajhwok Afghan News.

As the ambassador appreciated Pakistan’s support for reconciliation in Afghanistan, Sharif reiterated his administration’s opposition to the US drone campaign, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Drone attacks were unacceptable to the Pakistani nation, Sharif said at the meeting, which was also attended by Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and the prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz.

A day earlier, Dobbins met President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders. In a bid to end the Afghan-US dispute over the opening of the Taliban.

The special envoy is tasked with leading US talks with the Afghan Taliban, who opened their political office in Doha last week.

Following his meeting with Karzai, the diplomat acknowledged the Afghan government’s angry reaction to the opening of Taliban’s political bureau was fully justified.

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