Washington to continue cooperation with Pakistan

United States Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday said his country wants strong and cordial relations with Islamabad and to maintain the bilateral ties. "Stable Afghanistan is vital for a stable region..security is extremely important for both Pakistan and Afghanistan," Marc Grossman said while addressing a joint press conference alongside Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar here in the federal capital. The visiting U.S. envoy, earlier, separately called on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Hina Rabbani Khar and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Referring to his meetings, the envoy said Pakistan had assured the U.S. that Islamabad would continue strategic dialogues process with Washington and coordination between working groups of the two countries would remain intact. "I held key meetings with Pakistani leadership, the meetings were positive. We identified ways to move forward and talked a lot about future of dialogues." On the occasion, Khar said today's interaction focused on bilateral issues, adding that Pak-U.S. ties had gained more importance. A rift widened between the Pak-U.S. relations when U.S. retiring Admiral Mike Mullen blamed Pakistan's Inters Services Intelligence for helping Haqqani network carrying out attacks in Afghanistan. But efforts are underway from the two sides to improve ties. Grossman, who arrived in Islamabad Thursday morning on his one- day visit, was also scheduled to call on President Asif Ali Zardari in the President House.