Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party Saturday for the United States where he will hold talks on peace in Afghanistan, the firing of U.S. drones in Pakistan and economic cooperation between the two countries to the tortuous relations.
Nawaz Sharif, won parliamentary elections in May in Pakistan, a country of 180 million people whose Taliban sanctuaries near the border with Afghanistan are bombed by U.S. drones, will meet Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry and President Wednesday Barack Obama.
This is the first official visit of Pakistani Prime Minister to Washington since the arrival at the White House of Barack Obama in 2009, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.
The already strained relations between the two countries, though allies in the "war against terrorism" had reached a low in the wake of the raid in 2011 an American commando against Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, the city north of the capital Islamabad.
Since returning to power after the May elections, Nawaz Sharif - Prime Minister twice in the 90s - has increased signs of detente with the United States, when the two countries want to ensure a stable after the withdrawal of NATO forces in Afghanistan late 2014.
"This is a very comprehensive tour comes at a time when we really try to strengthen US-Pakistan relations," said a senior U.S. State Department.
"The United States felt that Pakistan can play a key role in the withdrawal from Afghanistan"
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