President Asif Ali Zardari left on Monday for the US for his first ever meeting with US President Barack Obama on bilateral matters and other issues common to the two countries. The president, who flew by a commercial flight, was seen off at Heathrow Airport by Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan and other senior officials. Federal Interior Minister Senator Rehman Malik also accompanied the president.
President Zardari had earlier arrived in the British capital on Saturday evening at the conclusion of his three-day visit to Libya.
On Sunday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Altaf Hussein met the president.
Also on Monday, ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha and chief of military operations Maj Gen Javid Iqbal left for Washington to attend the US-backed trilateral security talks, a private TV channel reported.
According to the channel, the trilateral talks on the regional security would begin on Wednesday. President Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai would also be in Washington to take part in the meeting.
Military sources said Pakistan would raise the issue of drone attacks with the US administration and would press Washington to halt them. Pakistan has long been protesting that the drone attacks are proving counter productive and damaging the military's efforts to fight the war against terrorism.