October 3, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 6, 1424

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WASHINGTON, Oct 2: The United States has rescheduled the visit of its two foreign policy experts to Pakistan and Afghanistan, quashing rumours that visit has been postponed indefinitely.

A State Department official told Dawn that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Assistant Secretary Christina Rocca will now leave for South Asia on Friday, arriving in Pakistan on Saturday. They plan to complete their visit on Oct 7, the official said.

He said the US delegation was scheduled to leave for Islamabad on Wednesday but the visit had to be delayed by two days because of Mr Armitage’s “sudden and brief illness.”

Mr Armitage and Ms Rocca are to hold talks with President Pervez Musharraf and other senior government officials in Islamabad.

In Kabul, they are scheduled to meet President Hamid Karzai and his senior aides and may return to Islamabad for more talks.

The talks are expected to focus on a sudden resurgence of Taliban activities along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Earlier on Wednesday, the US embassy public affairs section in Islamabad issued a press release announcing the visit of Armitage. It said: “Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will visit Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the UK Oct 1-8 to discuss a range of regional security and bilateral issues, including the status of US assistance programs and cooperation in the war on terror.”