The CIA director, William Burns, on Thursday met Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI head Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid in Rawalpindi and dicussed regional security issues and the current situation in Afghanistan, the Pakistani military said.
The meeting was held after the Taliban on Tuesday unveiled a hardline interim government with at least 14 members of the cabinet, including acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, being listed on the UN Security Council’s terror blacklist.
Burns and Bajwa exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, regional security and the current situation in Afghanistan, the Pakistan army’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said in a statement. Hamid was also present at the meeting.
“It was reiterated that Pakistan remains committed to cooperate with its international partners for peace in the region and ensuring a stable future for (the) Afghan people,” the statement said.
Burns’s visit came days after the ISI chief dashed to Kabul on an unannounced visit and met Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
It is the first high-level visit by a US official to Pakistan after the its withdrawal from Afghanistan.