US Defense Secretary, PM Abbasi discuss regional security

ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of Defence James Mattis held a meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi here on Monday.

US new policy for the South Asia came under discussion in the meeting attended by Minister Defence Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua, DG ISI Lt.Gen. Naveed Mukhtar and senior officials of both countries.

Visiting US dignitary and PM Abbasi also discussed different aspects of Pak-US relations especially the regional security situation.

US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale also attended the meeting.

Earlier, talking to news persons enroute to Pakistan, James Mattis expressed the optimism that Pakistan and the United States can find ways to work together in the face of mutual enemies.

Mattis arrived in Pakistan Monday as Washington pressures Pakistan to eliminate militant safe havens.

Relations suffered a further blow after a Pakistani court ordered the release of firebrand cleric Hafiz Saeed in late November, prompting a furious response from the White House.

Saeed heads the UN-listed terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa and has a $10 million US bounty on his head. He had been under house arrest but was released after a court in Lahore said officials had not provided any evidence of his role in the days-long assault on India´s capital which killed more than 160 people.

But en route to Pakistan Mattis told reporters he would not use pressure as a tactic and insisted he would do "some listening".

When asked if he would "prod" Islamabad to take more action, he replied: "That´s not the way I deal with issues. I believe that we work hard on finding the common ground, and then we work together, so that´s the approach I want to take."