U.S. generals, Pakistan army chief to hold 1st talks for months

PanARMENIAN.Net - Visiting U.S. generals will Wednesday, March 28 hold the first talks in months with Pakistan's army chief in a further sign that the troubled alliance between the two countries is getting back on track, AFP reported.

The visit by General James Mattis, the head of U.S. Central Command, and General John Allen, the U.S. commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, is the first since U.S. air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November.

The raid prompted Pakistan to close its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies and evict U.S. personnel from an airbase reportedly used as a hub in America's drone war against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil.

The crisis and the clandestine American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May pitched the strained alliance, forged in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001, almost to the point of rupture. But after a cooling down period, there are growing signs that both sides are keen to reset the relationship, albeit on more pragmatic terms.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met on Tuesday at a nuclear summit in Seoul, which an Obama aide said "made important progress" in both sides hearing directly from one another.

Pakistan's parliament is also debating a series of recommendations, which demand an end to U.S. drone strikes, an American apology and taxes on NATO convoys, in a likely precursor to reopening the Afghan border.

Pakistan's army said Wednesday's meeting would focus on "improvements in border coordination procedures" and the inquiry into the air strikes.