Strategic dialogue with Pakistan to continue despite 'serious challenges' in ties: US

Washington, July 2(ANI): The strategic dialogue between the United States and Pakistan will continue despite "some pretty serious challenges" in their bilateral relationship, the US State Department has said.

The US-Pakistan strategic dialogue was said to have been postponed indefinitely, in the latest sign of worsening ties between the key 'allies' in the ongoing war on terror.

"There is no chance of strategic dialogue taking place any time soon. The reason is obvious, there are more pressing issues that the two countries are trying to overcome at this stage," a Pakistani media report had quoted a security official familiar with the on-ground situation, as saying on the condition of anonymity earlier this week.

However, the State Department's Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said that no date had been set for the plenary due to 'scheduling issues'.

"I don't believe there's any date for the next plenary session of the Strategic Dialogue. It has yet to be scheduled," Toner told reporters at a regular press briefing.

When asked as to a date has not been set for the plenary, whether it is purely just a scheduling issue or there are political considerations, he replied: "I think it's scheduling issues."

"I think the working groups continue to meet, but trying to do something at the plenary level is a bit more difficult. You talked about political, and again, I'm not going to sugar-coat the fact that we've had some pretty serious challenges in the - in our bilateral relationship, but the Strategic Dialogue continues," he added.

Toner pointed out that the US continues to have high-level engagement with Pakistan, as well as the substantive working groups continue to meet as well.

"And in fact, on July 5th, our Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, William Brownfield, will be in Islamabad to lead the Strategic Dialogue Working Group meeting on counterterrorism and law enforcement with his Pakistani counterparts. So while there has been no date set yet for the plenary, the working groups do continue to meet on a regular basis," he maintained. (ANI)