U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue Resumes After Three Years

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Pakistan's national security and foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, deliver opening remarks at a ministerial-level meeting at the State Department in Washington on January 27.

Senior U.S. and Pakistani officials have met in Washington for their first "strategic dialogue" session in more than three years.

Secretary of State John Kerry met with Pakistani foreign-affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz.

The "strategic dialogue" process was halted after 2010 as relations between Washington and Islamabad plunged over issues including the 2011 U.S. raid inside Pakistan that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Kerry said on January 27 that Pakistan had the capability to rebound from its economic stagnation and become what he called a "tiger economy for the 21st century."

He backed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's economic reforms.

Aziz was quoted as saying Pakistan hoped Washington will start looking at Pakistan as a more significant partner, and not just through the lenses of the antiterrorism fight and neighboring Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP