WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States will present his credentials to President Donald Trump on Friday as relations between the two allies once again show signs of improvement.

In March, the PML-N government appointed Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, an investment banker, as Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States, replacing former foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary.

The US government approved Mr Sidd­iqui’s appointment in the first week of May and on May 29 he took charge of his new job. Earlier this week, the US State Department informed the Pakistan Embassy that Mr Siddiqui was scheduled to present his credentials to President Trump on June 22, along with seven other ambassadors.

Since governments prefer to hold the credentials ceremony for a bunch of ambassadors a new envoy often has to wait for months, particularly in major world capitals like Washington.

Mr Siddiqui, however, was lucky that the list was almost complete when his name was added to it in the first week of June, allowing him to present his credentials just two weeks after submitting his papers.

On Friday, Mr Siddiqui and other ambassadors will gather at the US President’s official guest house — Blair House — but will present their credentials individually, in alphabetical order. The official ceremony is held across the street, at the White House.

Relations between the two countries were extremely tense when Mr Siddiqui arrived in Washington but several positive developments in the last two weeks have eased the tensions.

The most obvious among them was the rare Eid ceasefire in Afghanistan, which only happened because all key players — the Afghan government, Taliban, the United States and Pakistan — were on the same page.

Although, it was Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who offered the ceasefire two weeks ago, Pakistan played a quiet but effective role in convincing the Taliban to accept the offer.

Apparently, the United States is using the military channel to communicate with Pakistan, for obvious reasons. So, no one in

Washington was surprised when Pakistan’s army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa made a high-profile visit to Kabul last week to discuss the prospects of a durable peace with President Ghani.

Diplomatic sources in Washington say that Pakistan has been involved in this initiative from the very beginning, as has been the United States.

But their involvement became public knowledge only when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telephoned Gen Bajwa on June 8 to discuss the “need for political reconciliation in Afghanistan”, as a statement issued by his office said. A day later, US Vice President Mike Pence telephoned caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk and also stressed this point.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2018