US Deputy Secy of State to visit Pakistan on Oct 7-8

WASHINGTON:The US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, will travel next month to Pakistan and India, the 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 Pakistan.She will meet senior officials in Islamabad on October 7-8 after an earlier visit to New Delhi and Mumbai on October 6-7, whereshe will meet officials and civil society leaders and address the US-India Business council’’s annual “ideas summit,” the State Department said.

“Biden, who like his predecessors has called for strong relations with India, has yet to speak to Khan, although Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of UN meetings last week and thanked Islamabad for help in evacuating Americans from Afghanistan.