美国国家公共电台 NPR Hoping For Improved U.S. Ties, Pakistan's Prime Minister Set To Visit White House

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Pakistan's prime minister, Imran Khan, and President Donald Trump¹ have exchanged some tough words online. Today they will meet in person for the first time. Khan is visiting the White House. And on the top of the agenda, the two leaders will try to figure out how to end the war in Afghanistan. NPR's Diaa Hadid has more from Islamabad.

DIAA HADID, BYLINE²: Pakistan's prime minister and the American president share a few things in common. Both are wealthy men. Both are populists. And like Trump, Khan...

JAVED ASHRAF QAZI: He also rich. So he is somewhat like Trump in that regard.

HADID: That's Ashraf Javed Qazi (ph). He's a former head of Pakistan's powerful military intelligence.

QAZI: Imran, too, is rather direct in what he wants to say.

HADID: In November, Trump accused Pakistan on Twitter of not doing enough on Afghanistan despite taking American aid. And Khan responded. He accused Trump of making Pakistan a scapegoat³ for America's failures in Afghanistan. But days after that Twitter fight, things changed.

Negotiations⁴ between a U.S. envoy⁵ and Taliban leaders to end the war were faltering⁶, and Trump asked for help because Pakistan has sway over the insurgent⁷ group. Khan, who has long advocated for negotiations with the Taliban, agreed to help. And since then, there's been steady progress. Earlier this year, during a visit to Pakistan, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he'd urge President Trump to meet with Khan.

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LINDSEY GRAHAM: Prime Minister Khan was criticized over the decades about talking about reconciling with the Taliban. He was right. The war in Afghanistan will end through reconciliation⁸.

HADID: The Trump-Khan meeting will chiefly focus on that war. Ammara Durrani is a political analyst⁹ in Islamabad.

AMMARA DURRANI: This meeting would definitely focus on resolving some key final issues which could eventually and hopefully lead to a political settlement in Afghanistan.

HADID: Both the U.S. and Pakistan want this war to end. Trump can claim a foreign policy victory as the president who ended America's longest war. And Pakistan will have cemented its leverage¹⁰ in any future Afghan government through its sway over the Taliban. But the visit to the White House itself is a domestic policy win for Khan, at a time when he's facing anger at home for rising prices and a falling currency. It's the first visit by a Pakistani prime minister in four years, and Khan can claim he's fixing ties with an important ally. This is his foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, speaking at a conference last week.

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SHAH MAHMOOD QURESHI: I can say today that from isolation¹¹, we have moved towards invitation.

HADID: But ultimately, much may ride on the personal rapport¹² Khan strikes with Trump, says Qazi, the former intelligence chief.

QAZI: I think it could go either way. Either it will mend some of the fissures¹³ that we have had in our relations and things could go smoothly¹⁴...

HADID: Or, he says, they could totally go in the opposite direction.

Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Islamabad.

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