Hillary Clinton visits Pakistan to renew ties

Islamabad, May 27: In an effort to renew its relationship with Pakistan after the killing of terror head Osama bin Laden, Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, arrived in Islamabad on Friday, May 27.

Hilary was joined by Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. On the occasion, Clinton stressed on the importance of Pakistan's cooperation in the fight against terrorism against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. She said that US wanted to have “a comprehensive, long term partnership" with Pakistan.

“There have been times we"ve had disagreements; there have been times when we"ve wanted them to push harder and for various reasons they have not," she said at a news conference in Paris, on Thursday before flying to Islamabad.

“Those differences are real. They will continue. But the fact of the matter is the international community has been able to kill more terrorists on Pakistani soil than any other place in the world. We could not have done that without Pakistani cooperation," she added.

The mission to kill Osama bin Laden was so secretive that America did not inform Pakistan in advance about the operation, which as a result strained the relation between the two countries.

“They had no idea we could or we would do what we did," said a senior administration on Friday, travelling aboard with Hillary Clinton. “That has changed their perspective in ways that we"re still evaluating and they"re still trying to come to grips with."

Hillary Clinton and Admiral Mullen are scheduled to meet Pakistan's security officials, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief and Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of the intelligence service.

Clinton and other officials are of the opinion that there was no evidence that senior civil and military officials in Pakistan knew about bin Laden's presence in the country but pledged to press Pakistan to look into the matter.

“We do have a set of expectations that we are looking for the Pakistani government to meet," said Hilary in Paris.

Clinton pushed forward her visit to Pakistan after Osama bin Laden was killed by the US in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

OneIndia News