ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and the United States will discuss the Afghanistan issue among other bilateral matters as a top US diplomat arrives in Islamabad today (October 7).

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will hold talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others during her two-day stay in Islamabad.  

“We seek a strong partnership with Pakistan on counter-terrorism and we expect sustained action against all militant and terrorist groups without distinction,” Wendy Sherman said about her October 7-8 trip.

She added: “Both of our countries have suffered terribly from the scourge of terrorism and we look forward to co-operative efforts to eliminate all regional and global terrorist threats.”

Sherman’s trip, which includes stops in Uzbekistan and India, comes as the US looks to retain some type of military capability in Afghanistan after hurriedly withdrawing all of its forces at the end of a 20-year war.

The Pentagon has spoken of ‘over-the-horizon’ capabilities against extremists in Afghanistan but its options are limited when launching air strikes from ships in the Arabian Sea.

Islamabad last month initiated talks with the Afghan Taliban for an inclusive government in Afghanistan, a step welcomed by Sherman. “We look to Pakistan to play a critical role in enabling that outcome,” she said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, a longtime critic of US military campaigns, said last week that his government had opened talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan about laying down their arms. “Some of the Pakistani Taliban groups actually want to talk to our government for some peace, for some reconciliation,” he said.

Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told US legislators last month that Pakistan has myriad interests conflicting with the US.

He said Pakistan’s foreign policy “is one that is involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan, it’s one that’s involved harbouring members of the Taliban.”

Blinken, who met Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi last month, told US legislators that Pakistan must deny legitimacy to the Taliban unless they meet international demands. They include respecting the rights of women and girls and ensuring that Afghanistan does not become “a haven for outward-directed terror”.