President Zardari to visit U.S. from May 5-8: FO

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will arrive Monday evening for his first official visit to Washington, during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama on bolstering bilateral relations and attend a trilateral meeting on ways to root out violent extremism from Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

Besides attending a trilateral summit with President Obama and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai at the White House, the Pakistani leader is scheduled to have a series of meeting with American leaders including Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates besides he will address Pakistanis resident in U.S.

Zardari will also be interacting with top congressional leaders on the Capitol Hill including members of the influential Senate and House committees dealing with foreign affairs.

On the eve of the visit, US presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke expressed the administration’s full support for the democratic government, saying Obama wants to back Islamabad’s effort to get rid of militancy with both security and economic assistance. link...