WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a telephone call with the head of the Pakistani army of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, regional security issues and bilateral defense bonds, said Pentagon.
During a telephone call on Monday, Austin expressed interest in continuing to improve US-Pakistani relations and build their mutual interest in the region, the Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in the reading of the conversation.
“Secretary of Austin and General Bajwa discussed ongoing situations in Afghanistan, regional security and stability, and a wider bilateral defense relationship,” said Kirby.
Austin discussed the purpose of security and reciprocal stability in the region, he said.
The surge in the Taliban in Afghanistan has increased when US and NATO forces completed their withdrawal from a torn country war.
With a Taliban attack increase, Afghan security forces and government forces have replied with air strikes assisted by the United States.
Afghanistan and the US have criticized Pakistan in the past because it allows Taliban fighters to cross to Pakistan where they are provided safe and also receive medical treatment.
Nearly 2 million Afghan refugees also lived in Pakistan, after running away from decades of war in their homeland.
Pakistan said that it had used its influence on the Taliban to suppress the defaults into the talks with the US and the Afghan government to find political solutions to the crisis in neighboring countries.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the US “really disrupted it” in Afghanistan when he questioned the American motives for the 2001 invasion in the country at first and then their next efforts of the Taliban from the Taliban the position of weakness.