Beenish Javed

Maleeha Lodhi is a well known expert on Pakistan and U.S. relations. I spoke to her about the complicated relationship between two countries and if she sees any improvement in ties among two countries. Beenish: Is the recent engagement between Pakistan and U.S. officials, especially the visit of Marc Grossman to Pakistan, has helped in improving ties between two countries or not? Maleeha:  The U.S. has not responded to many demands of Pakistan.  U.S has not offered an apology on Salala check post attacks, payments of Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan have not been made, and no agreement on drones have been made. The parliamentary recommendations are very clear on stopping drone attacks, but the U.S. has not agreed to stop them. I think it’s not only about opening up of NATO supply routes, the U.S. has not responded positively on what Pakistan wants. We have to see if the deadlock between two countries can be resolved or not? And whether the new terms of engagem...

The third episode of Diplomatic Enclave went really well. This episode includes a quick roundup of last week's news. A great report on Iran's cultural aspects and a report explaining the importance of this week's Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran Strategic Agreements. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLmuB81AROw For translation in English like the page http://www.facebook.com/pages/DiplomaticEnclave/168947873189364

              I got a chance to interview Mark Stroh, spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, for ARY NEWS. Following is the summary of the interview.              The U.S. says its not cutting the military aid of 700 million dollars nor it is freezing the aid to Pakistan. The senate has passed a defence authorisation bill, which bounds Pakistan to cooperate with the U.S. in combating the IED's, which have been a primary sources of deaths of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. If the defence departement of U.S. sends a report to the congress that Pakistan is cooperating than the aid money will go to Pakistan. This bill will most likely be soon signed by President Obama, and than Pakistan would be bound to control the flow of IED's to Afghanistan. Experts of International affairs, here in Islamabad have been talking about a clear shift in Pakistan's po...