WASHINGTON: The Pakistani military sees a new set of possibilities in the new Afghan government for improving ties with its Western neighbour, says US Secretary of State John Kerry who meets Pakistani and Afghan leaders on Thursday in London.

London is hosting an international conference on Afghanistan on Thursday to outline the future course of action for the war-ravaged country.

At this conference, the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, will hold his first face-to-face talks with key Western government leaders. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also attending the conference and is already scheduled to meet President Ghani, the new Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and Secretary Kerry.

Diplomatic observers in Washington said US officials would discuss this issue with both Pakistani and Afghan leaders in London on Thursday and would urge them to develop a joint strategy for dealing with the problem of militancy which poses an existentialist threat to both states.

Published in Dawn December 4th , 2014