Pak-US to revive strategic dialogue: Report

Pakistan and the US have agreed to revive their strategic dialogue and upgrade it to the ministerial level in a bid to rejuvenate their bilateral ties,according to a media report on.

Pakistan and the US have agreed to revive their strategic dialogue and upgrade it to the ministerial level in a bid to rejuvenate their bilateral ties,according to a media report on Friday.

The fourth round of the strategic dialogue will be held here during US Secretary of State Hillary Clintons visit to Pakistan in October,diplomatic sources were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

Clinton will co-chair the dialogue with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

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The US decision to have Clinton as co-chair marks the talks being upgraded,the report said.

Diplomatic sources told PTI that the Pakistani side believed the bilateral strategic dialogue had lost some of its impetus after President Barack Obamas administration decided to focus on the Af-Pak policy to tackle militancy and other region regional issues by lumping Pakistan and Afghanistan together.

The perception that the US viewed its ties with Pakistan through the Afghan prism was reinforced when Islamabads request for holding the fourth round of the strategic dialogue was given the cold shoulder at least twice this year.

Moreover,after the appointment of Richard Holbrooke as Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan,most of the interaction between Islamabad and Washington was channelled through his office.