US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan scheduled for May was cancelled on Tuesday as key American leaders urged Washington and Islamabad to decide whether they were “real allies” in the fight against terrorism after Osama bin Laden’s death or not .
According to Online news agency, Clinton cancelled her visit after relations between the two countries soured following bin Laden’s killing. The new dates of the visit have not been announced yet. Meanwhile, US House Speaker John Boehner said the killing of the Al Qaeda leader presented a make-or-break moment for US-Pakistani relations. “I do trust them, but I think it’s a moment when we need to look each other in the eye and decide, are we real allies? Are we going to work together?” Boehner, the top Republican in the US Congress, told NBC television.
“And if we are, you’re either all in or you’re not in,” said the lawmaker, who echoed concerns about how the Al Qaeda leader was able to live unperturbed for years just a stone’s throw from a top military academy. “Clearly there are questions that remain about what they knew or didn’t know about bin Laden being in their country. There are certainly some questions about their willingness to pursue some terrorists, but maybe not others,” he said.
Still, Boehner said when he looks at Pakistan “I see an ally” of the US and called Islamabad “a real asset when it comes to fighting the war on terror”. “Let’s never forget that Pakistan has lost more troops and more individuals than we have here in America. So they’ve been an ally. They’ve been helpful. But there are questions, and I don’t think we ought to have questions,” he said. In a stark and scathing warning to Pakistan to do more to battle extremists or risk souring ties with Washington, US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein charged that bin Laden could not have lived as he did in Pakistan without some official “complicity”.
“I just don’t believe it was done without some form of complicity,” Feinstein said. “I think either we’re going to be allies in fighting terror, or the relationship makes less and less sense to me,” said the senator, who indicated she foresaw cuts in billions in US aid absent a course correction in Islamabad. While some US lawmakers have called for stepping up help to Pakistan, “I feel a little differently,” said Feinstein who complained that “we provide funds, we try to help the government wherever we can” and get little in return.
Salman Bashir: Separately, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir asked the US to stop beating behind the bush, saying if Washington wanted Pakistan’s cooperation in the war on terror, it should adopt a diplomatic approach instead of sending messages through the media. Talking to reporters at the Parliament House, the foreign secretary said the visit of US President Barack Obama to Pakistan had not been postponed, adding that the schedule for the dates of the visit was being worked out.
Clinton cancels visit in ‘make-or-break moment’ for US-Pak ties
