Pakistani envoy Ali Siddiqui meets US Defence Secretary James Mattis

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Ali Jehangir Siddiqui met with US Defence Secretary General James N. Mattis in Washington on Monday.

The meeting which was held on Pakistan’s request at Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defence, had bilateral ties between the two countries and other issues such as security in South Asian region under discussion.

Siddiqui was accompanied by Pakistan’s Defence and Army Attache Brigadier Kamal Anwar Chaudhry on the visit to Pentagon.

Earlier this month, Siddiqui had expressed concerns on matters related to bilateral ties between Pakistan and the US which he believed needed to be discussed.

He had earlier stated that peace in Afghanistan is his top-most priority and that Pakistan sees ending regional conflict as its primary objective.

The building of fence at Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan is a clear indication of how Pakistan remains committed to solving regional conflict, he had said during an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Prior to this, US Army Lieutenant General Austin Miller, Trump’s nominee to head the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement to a Senate panel last month that Pakistan had made “many sacrifices” and “its security forces have fought bravely,” but “we have not yet seen these counter-terrorism efforts against anti-Pakistan militants translate into definitive actions against Afghan Taliban or Haqqani leaders residing in Pakistan.”

“Until we complete this fence, it’s unreasonable to say we aren’t doing anything,” Siddiqui had remarked.