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Finds it hard to believe Pak leaders don’t know where al-Qaeda operatives are
Friday, October 30, 2009
By special correspondent
LAHORE: The relationship between the United States of America and Pakistan is like a marriage where both parties have great expectations of each other, where there is hurt and love “but the US does not want a divorce”, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday.
She was responding to a question in a select briefing for six senior journalists here. Mrs Clinton had spent a busy morning in Pakistan’s cultural and intellectual capital meeting representatives of civil society, students, politicians and journalists.
In this briefing at the Government College University, which she said impressed her as a “beautiful and grand institution”. She was accompanied by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (Special Representative on AfPak), Ambassador Anne Patterson (US Ambassador to Pakistan), PJ Crowley (Assistant Sec of State for Public Affairs), Vali Nasr (special assistant to Ambassador Holbrooke) and other officials. Wearing a turquoise jacket with sapphire studs in her ears, Hillary Clinton was well turned out and in a sprightly mood.
She said that she was “greatly disturbed by the level of mistrust between the US and Pakistan” and that was why she had made the trip to Pakistan. She admitted that several mistakes had been made during the Bush years which the Obama Administration was now trying to rectify. She said the Obama Administration understands that Afghanistan and Pakistan are inextricably linked and a thorough review of American policies in Afghanistan is now underway. Mrs Clinton said the president’s decision has been delayed because of the Afghan elections which have still to be decided. She said that as soon as that is done, the Obama Administration will announce its strategy for Afghanistan.
She said that there was a bipartisan consensus in the US Congress about the importance of Pakistan which is why the Kerry-Lugar legislation seeks to give the country US$7.5 billion over five years in non-military assistance. Mrs Clinton said that there was “dismay” in Congress at the reaction in Pakistan over the bill, especially given the fact that it had been in the pipeline long before the PPP government came to power, and thorough discussions were undertaken with the Musharraf government as well as other stakeholders in Pakistan.
Mrs Clinton was told how certain conditionalities in the KL legislation had “offended” Pakistanis for not being sensitive to questions of sovereignty. Just as that is so, said Mrs Clinton, many in the US government find some conduct of Pakistani governments and security establishment “incomprehensible”.
She said, “Al-Qaeda has had a safe haven in Pakistan since 2002. I find it hard to believe that Pakistani leaders don’t know where they (al-Qaeda operatives) are. Many of these terrorists are foreigners - Uzbeks, Arabs and others - yet there is no concern for the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by them.”
Mrs Clinton was told that the US government must encourage India to restart the peace process with Pakistan without preconditions so that “terrorists do not take advantage of the standoff and precipitate another attack on Indian soil”.
Mrs Clinton responded by saying that the US was aware of the risks attendant on a stalled resumption of the Indo-Pak peace process. She said that when the terror attack on Mumbai happened, “the efforts of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to avoid war were extraordinary”. She also said that “if trade between India and Pakistan explodes, it will be most advantageous to Pakistan”.
The secretary of state was scheduled to have lunch with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and leaders of the PML-N. She said there was a “common national agenda of Pakistan’s political parties. Stability is very important within the democratic process.”
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ISSN 1563-9479 
