US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to arrive in Pakistan today

WASHINGTON: US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is set to arrive in Islamabad today (Thursday). Sherman, after CIA chief Bill Burns, will be one of the first high-level officials under President Joe Biden to visit Pakistan.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has reportedly exempted an eight-member US delegation, led by Sherman, from the coronavirus rapid antigen test upon their arrival. The US delegation will reach the Islamabad International Airport through a chartered flight.

According to the US State Department, Sherman, who is currently in India, will meet senior officials in Islamabad today and tomorrow (October 8) after her visit to New Delhi and Mumbai.

Sherman is the most important person in the US State Department after Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an opinion piece published last month in The Washington Post, had called his country a “convenient scapegoat.”

“In Afghanistan, the lack of legitimacy for an outsider’s protracted war was compounded by a corrupt and inept Afghan government, seen as a puppet regime without credibility, especially by rural Afghans,” he had written, elaborating on themes in his address Friday to the UN General Assembly.

The PM had urged the world to engage the Taliban government “to ensure peace and stability.”

Biden, who like his predecessors has called for strong relations with India, has yet to speak to PM Khan, although Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of UN meetings earlier, and thanked Islamabad for help in evacuating Americans from Afghanistan.