Pakistan’s Prime Minister Leaves the US Without a Peep About Nukes

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Image from Flickr by DFID UK. CC BY

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Image from Flickr by DFID UK. CC BY

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and US President Barack Obama met in Washington last week. Before the visit, there was speculation that Pakistan's nuclear program would be the focus of the talks, but minutes before the widely publicized meeting had even ended, a joint statement appeared on a Pakistani government website explaining that the talks reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to fighting terrorism and supporting the peace process in Afghanistan.

Pakistani journalist Shaheen Sehbai tweeted:

Pakistani Senator Sherry Rehman tweeted:

Others on Twitter weighed in on the talks:

$70 million to educate girls

Sharif's wife Kulsoom Nawaz and their daughter Maryam Nawaz also met the US First Lady Michelle Obama.

Michelle Obama and Maryam Nawaz had a meeting during this short trip, during which Mrs Obama announced they would give $70 million to educate girls in Pakistan.

Maryam Nawaz later thanked the Obamas on Twitter, along with publishing photos of a souvenir from them, but she tagged the wrong accounts to her tweet:

‘Asian tiger’ Nawaz Sharif trends on Twitter

During the visit many Nawaz fans were tweeting about the visit using hashtags like #RealChangeWithRealPM and #AsianTigerNawazSharif:

There are others who thought the US could play a role in showing Pakistan the right way. Malik Siraj Akbar wrote in Huffington Post blog about 10 issues the US `president would raise with Pakistan's Sharif.

Hopes and pride

When the meeting started, #AsianTigerNawazSharif and #USPresident were trending in Pakistan. There were media reports about a '14 points agenda’ that had been handed over by Nawaz to Obama. A lot of the supporters of Nawaz were proud to see him with Obama once again and had many hopes attached.

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