WASHINGTON, Feb 21: Two Pakistani delegations will arrive in Washington for talks that may profoundly influence the war against extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan region.

Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani reaches the US capital on Saturday evening while Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi arrives on Sunday.

Gen Kayani’s visit is not linked to the tripartite talks that the foreign minister will attend, along with his Afghan counterpart.

The army chief was invited by his American counterpart and his visit was finalised long before the US proposed the tripartite talks.

But US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said earlier that the United States will raise its concerns over the Swat peace deal at “very high levels” with the representatives of the Pakistani military, indicating that this may also come up during Gen Kayani’s meetings in the US.

The Americans also intend to discuss their future strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Pakistani army chief, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

While the foreign minister is only visiting Washington, Gen Kayani will also visit US military bases in other cities.

Mr Qureshi’s delegation includes Director-General ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Director-General Military Operations, Pakistan Army, Maj-Gen Javed Iqbal.

During his three-day visit – Feb 23-26 – the foreign minister will meet his US counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador Holbrooke and Co-Chair of the Policy Review Panel Bruce Riedel.

He will also meet National Security Advisor Gen (retd) James Jones and other senior members of the Obama administration.

The Pakistani delegation will participate in the review process of the future US strategy for fighting terrorism in South Asia.

Besides the United States, both Afghanistan and Pakistan are sending senior civil and military officials to participate in the talks.

The United States had also invited India but India has declined the offer because it was only offered “a ringside seat”.

India, however, has sought and received assurance from the United States there will be no talks on Kashmir during the policy review.

The deputy spokesman for the US State Department, Gordon Duguid, said both Afghanistan and Pakistan will “provide input into our review policy” on fighting terrorism in their region.

In Washington, diplomatic observers are describing the tripartite talks as Ambassador Holbrooke’s first exercise in the US’ attempt to stabilise the Afghan-Pakistan region.

The participants could also explore the possibility of an eventual deal with some version of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Ambassador Holbrooke, however, rejected a similar deal Pakistan is negotiating with the militants in Swat.

The Obama administration, however, is also frustrated with the Karzai government for its failure to bring peace to the war-ravaged country and for the wide-ranging corruption that plagues the US-backed regime.

Some diplomatic observers in Washington say that the Obama administration could back one of the four invitees from Afghanistan — former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, former interior minister Ali Ahmed Jalali and governor of Nangarhar Gul Agha Shirzai – as an alternative candidate in the next elections scheduled in May.

Meanwhile, Secretary Clinton assured President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday that the US would continue to support Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate terrorism.

Secretary Clinton made the commitment in a call to President Zardari in China.

According to diplomatic and US sources in Washington, Mrs Clinton told the Pakistani leader that the United States appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to fight terrorism and wanted to provide all possible assistance to help Islamabad win the war.

Mrs Clinton also said that she was looking forward to meeting Foreign Minister Qureshi in Washington on Monday.