Long road ahead in US-Pak ties after re-opening of NATO supply routes: Sherry

Islamabad, July 6 (ANI): Pakistan's envoy to the United States Sherry Rehman has said that Islamabad and Washington are set to resume broader talks on security cooperation, militant threats, and other issues following the agreement to reopening NATO supply routes into Afghanistan.

"I certainly think it opened the door to many other issues," The Dawn quoted Rehman, as saying.

"There's a long road ahead, but both sides can use this opportunity to build a path to durable ties," she added.

Pakistan recently decided to re-open the NATO supply routes into Afghanistan after the Obama administration issued an apology over the US air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November at Salala check post.

Pakistan has now permitted trucks carrying NATO supplies to cross into Afghanistan for the first time in more than seven months.

According to the paper, Rehman also said that most of Al-Qaeda has been decimated with Pakistani cooperation, and that Islamabad would go after foreign fighters linked to other militants according to "Pakistan's priorities" and time frame.

The immediate military priority was combating insurgents who target Pakistani security forces and civilians, she added.

Rehman said Pakistan stood to pay a high price if the NATO project in Afghanistan does not produce a stable country, in part because instability is likely to spill over the two countries' porous border.

"For Pakistan, the stakes in Afghan stability are very high," the paper quoted her, as saying. (ANI)