ISLAMABAD - Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani left Tuesday for US on an official visit to participate in the three-day Pak-US Strategic Dialogue scheduled to begin in Washington today (Wednesday). He will meet senior military and government officials of the United States of America in Washington. Lieutenant General Rashid Mehmood, Corps Commander Lahore and other senior military officials saw off COAS at Lahore airport. Official and diplomatic sources privy to the scheduled high-level strategic talks informed TheNation that Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi would co-chair the Strategic Dialogue with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Pakistans military chief, General Kayani will be among the top Pakistani officials who would attend the meetings, which will also be attended by the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. During the ministerial-level bilateral talks that were held in Washington on March 24-25, 2010, thirteen separate working groups were formed and they had also held meetings in Islamabad during the last three months. They would submit their recommendations. The subgroups have been set up to address issues relating to agriculture, communications and public diplomacy, defence, education, energy, health, law enforcement and counterterrorism, market access, science and technology, security, strategic stability and non-proliferation, water, and womens empowerment in Pakistan. Sources said that Pakistan would adopt a decisive stance on Indias violation of Indus River Water Treaty and demand of US to play its role in this regard. They said that Pakistan would demand of US to establish Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in the Tribal Areas and urge various members of the Congress to conduct methodical legislation to remove hurdles in this regard. Official and diplomatic sources informed TheNation that Pakistani team apart from more than two dozens items on the agenda would also press the Washington for transfer of drone technology to Pakistan. It is further learnt that the Obama administration is likely to announce $2 billion security assistance package for next five years to help Pakistan fight terrorism at Pak-Afghan bordering region. The aid will be utilised by Pakistan to purchase helicopters, weapon systems and equipment to intercept communications. Sources said that the aid would be provided under the USs Foreign Military Financing Programme, which provided grants and loans to countries to purchase weapons and defence equipment produced in the United States.