U.S.-Pakistani relationship remains challenging for both - Clinton

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S.-Pakistani relationship remains challenging for both despite the reopening of Pakistani land routes to resupply U.S. troops in Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday, July 8, according to Reuters.

Clinton last week apologized for a November NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and Islamabad responded by reopening the overland supply routes that are crucial to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

The supply route deal removed one headache, but ties are likely to remain strained by other differences. These include Pakistan's opposition to U.S. drone strikes aimed at militants on its territory and Washington's allegations that Islamabad condones, or even assists, anti-American militants.

Speaking after she met Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Clinton said both were encouraged they had "put the recent difficulties behind us" but she acknowledged the difficulties in the relationship in blunt terms.

"I have said many times that this is a challenging but essential relationship. It remains so. And I have no reason to believe it will not continue to raise hard questions for us both," Clinton told a news conference in Tokyo, where both officials attended an Afghan donors' conference. "But it is something that I think is in the interests of the United States as well as in the interests of Pakistan."

Clinton said that the top issue she discussed with Khar was "the necessity of defeating the terror networks that threaten the stability of both Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as interests of the United States" and its allies.

The United States has pressed Pakistan to pursue the Taliban and its allies, especially the Haqqani network, which it blames for a series of attacks on U.S. targets in Afghanistan.

During their one-hour meeting, Clinton urged Khar to put pressure on the Haqqani network, said a senior U.S. official, who acknowledged that it was unclear whether Pakistan would step up its counter-terrorism efforts.

"In terms of counterterrorism, my answer is we'll see," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"In many ways, the fact that the (land routes) were closed was getting in the way of a lot of conversation with Pakistan. Now that (they) are open, we have an opportunity, it seems to me, to go back into business with them and counter-terrorism is one of those areas. So, we'll see," he added.