Pakistan is into a relationship of choice with the United States on the basis of mutual interests, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said, rejecting an impression that during their Sunday’s meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an ultimatum to Islamabad to attack Haqqani group militants.
“There are some misperceptions about the 3-1/2 hours meeting I had with Secretary Clinton. There were no ultimatums from either side,” she told journalists. The relationship between the United States and Pakistan was an important one and no one was a hostage in it, Khar said.
US officials said after Sunday’s talks that the issue of counterterrorism in general and the Haqqani network in particular were the first and last topics discussed by Clinton and the Pakistani foreign minister.
But Khar said the meeting was not one-dimensional rather it covered all the issues of interest to Pakistan and the United States.
Pakistan had made big sacrifices in combating terrorism, having lost some 30,000 citizens and 5,000 army and police personnel killed, the foreign minister said.
Khar said during the meetings with her counterparts she had been briefing them about the flood damage in Pakistan and urging for support to the ongoing efforts to provide relief to the five million victims.
No US ultimatum on Haqqani network: FM
