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| Image: Flickr User - U.S. Department of State |
By Rohan Joshi
Nuclear issues, regional stability, and terrorism topped the agenda for Sharif and Obama this week.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif concluded his second official visit to the U.S. since assuming office in 2013. During his visit, Sharif met with Secretary of State John Kerry, addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and met with U.S. President Barack Obama. Sharif’s visit comes on the heels of the visit to the U.S. by Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar, the chief of Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Sharif’s visit to the U.S. also comes at a time when his domestic position in Pakistan is significantly diminished. The Pakistan Army enjoys a monopoly on issues pertaining to national security, counter-terrorism, and relations with the U.S. and India. A few days prior to the Pakistani prime minister’s visit to the U.S., Sartaj Aziz, a confidante of Sharif, was replaced as the national security advisor by Lt. Gen. Naseer Khan Janjua, the former head of the Pakistan Army’s Southern Command.
In the U.S., the Obama administration is attempting to pressure Pakistan into doing more to bring the Taliban and its new leadership to the negotiating table with the Afghanistan government. The previous round of talks between Kabul and the Taliban in Pakistan were scuttled as a result of the announcement that Mullah Omar, the reclusive leader of the Taliban, had died at a hospital in Karachi in 2013.
Although divided, the Taliban faction under the leadership of Mullah Mansour, who was Omar’s right-hand man since 2010, intensified its attacks in northern Afghanistan and captured the city of Kunduz last month. The fall of Kunduz prompted Obama to backtrack on his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by 2016.
The Obama administration also remains concerned about Pakistan’s pursuit of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs). TNWs are considered dangerous because they complicate the safety and security of nuclear weapons and increase the risk of a nuclear escalation to the strategic level, while not particularly adding to deterrence. Reports in the New York Times and Washington Post suggested that the U.S. was willing to offer to “mainstream” Pakistan’s nuclear program in exchange for caps on its nuclear arsenal.
Read the full story at The Diplomat