Pakistan army chief heads to Washington

Pakistan’s influential military chief will visit the US from Sunday, a trip analysts say will underscore security issues facing Islamabad and Washington in the region as well as the imbalance in civilianmilitary power in Pakistan.

The November 15-20 visit comes weeks after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office to discuss many of the same issues said to be on his army chief ’s agenda, including Afghan peace talks and Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions.

Analysts said Raheel Sharif ’s influence over both issues makes him, rather than the civilian leadership, the dominant broker for Washington’s regional agenda.

The Americans “know where the power is”, Pakistani defence and security analyst Talat Masood said.