An interesting comment on the difficult US-Pakistan relationship made the serious-looking US secretary of state burst into laughter during a town hall meeting in the federal capital on Friday when a female entrepreneur said the US was like a mother-in-law to Pakistan: impossible to please.
“We all know that the whole of Pakistan is facing the brunt of whatever is happening and trying to cooperate with the US, and somehow the US is like a mother-in-law who is just not satisfied with us,” said Shamama, a female entrepreneur, while commenting on the complex relationship between both countries. This brought a round of applause from the crowd while Hillary Clinton burst into laughter.
“We are trying to please you, and every time you come and visit us you have a new idea and tell us, you are not doing enough and need to work harder,’” Shamama said. Laughing at length, Clinton said she was herself a mother-in-law and could understand the woman’s perspective. The secretary of state’s daughter, Chelsea, has married an investment banker last year in New York.
“I think that’s a great analogy I have never heard before,” said Clinton. “Now that I am a mother-in-law, I totally understand what you’re saying and hope to do better privately and publicly,” she said, adding: “Once a mother-in-law, always a mother-in-law, but perhaps mothers-in-law can learn new ways also.” She said she personally believed the relationship was critical, important to both countries and therefore “we cannot give it up”.
