Key issues including withdrawal of sanction on RAB and extradition of a convicted killer of Bangabandhu remain unresolved during the serial talks between Bangladesh and the USA.
However, the US side expressed willingness to assist Bangladesh in the modernisation and institutional development of its armed forces, officials of the foreign ministry said.
The latest of these talks, the ‘8th US-Bangladesh Security Dialogue’, ended in Washington on Thursday.
The previous discussion, a bilateral talk between Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and US secretary of State Anthony Blinken, was held on Tuesday.
Earlier, US-Bangladesh Partnership Dialogue was held in Dhaka last month.
But this series of dialogues brought little hope for immediate withdrawal of the sanction on RAB imposed by the Biden administration, nor it assured the Bangladesh government to hand over Rashed Chowdhury, the convicted killer of Bangabandhu who was granted asylum in the USA.
These issues were the main focus of Bangladesh in the three sittings but we did not get any assurances for resolving these issues, a senior official of the foreign ministry said.
Foreign Secretary Ambassador Masud Bin Momen and US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ambassador Bonnie Denise Jenkins led respective delegations in the security dialogue where Bangladesh side raised deep concern regarding the sanctions on RAB and individuals and urged the US side to reconsider the decision.
