Pakistani PM to meet U.S. leader at S. Korea nuke summit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is expected to meet U.S. President Barack Obama during a nuclear security summit in South Korea next week, a senior Pakistani official said Friday, March 23, according to AFP.

The meeting would be the most senior-level face-to-face talks between both countries since American forces killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May.

Pakistani-U.S. relations hit an all-time low after that humiliating operation, which Washington said was carried out without Islamabad's knowledge, and subsequent U.S. air strikes killing 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

But from Monday Pakistani lawmakers are to debate new parameters for getting the troubled relationship back on track, expected to see Pakistan eventually reopen its Afghan border to NATO convoys after a four-month closure.

Obama last met Gilani in April 2010 on the eve of another nuclear summit in Washington, at a time when the U.S. was seen to be making a concerted effort to reduce anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

But U.S.-Pakistani relations nosedived dramatically in 2011, firstly over a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis, then the furore over bin Laden and lastly over the November air strikes.

The last top-level American visit to Pakistan was in October last year when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Islamabad to dismantle Afghan militant havens and encourage the Taliban to join peace talks.

The recommendations for a recrafted relationship - up for debate in Pakistan's parliament - include a U.S. apology for the November killings, an end to drone strikes against militants on Pakistani soil and taxes on NATO convoys.