ISLAMABAD, May 3: The US State Department’s Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, arrived here on Wednesday to hold consultations with top civil-military officials regarding the war on terrorism.
Announcing his visit, a US embassy statement said that during his two-day visit he would hold talks with officials at the ministries of foreign affairs and interior, besides the army general headquarters.
Ambassador Crumpton will meet Tariq Osman Hyder, Additional Secretary to the UN, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
The talks would focus on various aspects of the US-led war on terrorism, officials here said. The overall strategy and its implementation, intelligence-sharing and challenges ahead would figure in the discussions.
Additional security support structures, required by Pakistan for military operations in tribal areas, are likely to be discussed. On the cards will also be the US assistance of $76 million, sources said.
The visit of Mr Crumpton coincides with the first tripartite Pakistan-Afghanistan-US joint military exercises that are underway in Cherat. The exercises are aimed at improving coordination and communication among forces of the three countries to operate against Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal areas.
Also, it takes place at a time when the security situation in Waziristan is worsening with the resurgence of militants and regrouping of Taliban. There has been a sharp increase in suicide bombings in Afghanistan, posing a new threat to the already volatile security situation there.
The US coordinator will later travel to Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates to meet with his counterparts in those countries.
