Kerry arrives today

ISLAMABAD - A top US Senator John Kerry arrives here today (Monday) on a 2-day visit to discuss various bilateral, regional and global issues with top Pakistani leadership with focus on future civilian and military aid to Islamabad from Washington. During his visit, Senator Kerry, who is also the Chairman of US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will hold separate meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. Different issues of mutual interest such as Afghanistan and security situation in tribal areas will figure for discussions during Senator Kerrys visit but the focus will be on the a bill introduced by the visiting American Senator and Senator Richard Logur that calls for allocating 1.5 billion dollars per year to Pakistan over the period of next five years, said a senior official here requesting anonymity. Obama administration is preparing to increase its military and economic assistance to Pakistan in an effort to boost the Pakistani militarys ability to wage a counter-insurgency war against al-Qaeda and Taliban in the restive tribal regions. The US administration is also backing the legislation introduced by Senator Kerry and Senator Lugar aimed at tripling non-military aid to Pakistan, said the official adding that the visit of Kerry to Islamabad would help the two sides to sort out matters related to the vital issue. The official said that Kerry would have detailed discussions with Pak leaders on another vital issue of new US policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan unveiled recently by Obama. In this regard, he said Pakistani leadership would convey its concerns to the top US Senator such as its opposition to repeated drone attacks by CIA on the tribal areas as well as the growing influence of India in Afghanistan.

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