Pentagon Chief To Meet Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's (in file photo) trip will be the first by a Pentagon chief to Pakistan in nearly four years.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plans to travel to Pakistan on December 9 for talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other senior officials.

A Pentagon spokesman announced the visit in Washington.

Hagel would be the first Pentagon chief to make such a visit to Pakistan in nearly four years.

Spokesman Carl Woog said Hagel and Sharif would continue “candid and productive conversations” about the U.S.-Pakistan security partnership that had begun when the two met in Washington earlier this year.

Woog said they also would talk about the shared interest of a stable future for Afghanistan.

Hagel's visit to Pakistan was announced as he was finishing a two-day visit to Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by Reuters and RFE/RL