Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said on 28th August, that Pakistan had suspended talks and bilateral visits with the United States as a mark of protest over the recent anti-Pakistan diatribe by US President Donald Trump.
US Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells was supposed to arrive Pakistan on 29th August, while the Pakistani foreign minister himself was to travel to the US last week under the previous schedule.
A US Embassy spokesperson told Reuters in Islamabad on August 27, that "At the request of the Government of Pakistan, Acting Assistant Secretary Wells' trip has been postponed until a mutually convenient time.” Pakistan's foreign ministry released a statement with similar wording.
This is notable that Trump accused Pakistan of harbouring "agents of chaos" and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a US-backed government in Kabul.
Pakistani officials responded by saying the US should not "scapegoat" Pakistan and accused the American military of failing to eliminate militant sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua informed the house that a meeting of Pakistan’s envoys had been convened from Sept 5 to 7 to chalk out a strategy after announcement of the new US policy on South Asia.
Alice G. Wells is a seasoned American diplomat and former Ambassador of the United States of America to Jordan.
She is married to Kurt E. Amend. Mr. Amend joined the United States Foreign Service in April 1988. He has served in India (1989-1991; 2000-2002), Saudi Arabia (1991-1992; 1995-1997), Tajikistan (1992-1994), Kosovo (1993), Pakistan (1997-2000), and Afghanistan (2002-2003). From 2003-2005 he worked on U.S. strategy and policy in Afghanistan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. Kurt E. Amend was assigned to the White House as the Director for Afghanistan at the National Security Council in May 2005. Amend, who joined Raytheon, one of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers in 2011, was appointed as president of the company’s operations in Saudi Arabia in May 2016. Amend also served as president of Raytheon International Inc in Riyadh.