US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced Washington’s growing dissatisfaction with Pakistan’s anti-terror performance but argued that sustaining a relationship with country is in America’s own interest. The chief American diplomat also recognized the oft-missed point that Washington has partly been responsible for the challenging relationship between the two countries. As relations between the two countries remain troubled and stalemated – over several issues including long-sought U.S. apology on last year’s Salala attacks – Clinton used some stinging observations regarding Pakistan’s policies and said the country is losing sovereignty, which, she argued, meant control over the territory. Her remarks indicated that Washington would continue to pressurize Pakistan on the issue of Afghan militants finding a sanctuary on its side of the border. She told Charlie Rose Show in an appearance along with former Secretary of State James Baker, who led foreign policy efforts under George Walker Bush from 1989-92, that despite current difficulties, breaking off ties with Pakistan was not the appropriate option. “I think that our relationship with Pakistan has been challenging for a long time. Some of it is of our own making,” Clinton told the program. She also demanded that Dr Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani who worked for CIA in hunt for bin Laden before his death in the American raid last summer, be released. But, Clinton said, she “completely agree(s ) it is not in our interests to cut off our relationship” with Pakistan. “It is in our interest to try to better direct and manage that relationship,” she recognized. Washington, she said, is dealing with a country that “has a lot of difficult issues both for themselves and then for us and others.” “There are several things that we’re asking the Pakistanis to do more of and better. Number one, they’ve got to do more about the safe havens inside their own country.” The US Secretary of State also took a swipe at Pakistani complaints about Washington’s disregard for its sovereignty. “They talk a lot about sovereignty. Well, the first job of any sovereign nation is to protect your own people and secure your own borders. And therefore that’s what they should be doing, and by doing so they would help themselves first and foremost, help the Afghans, help us, and others.”
relations have always been in US interst as client pakistan state is butchering its own people at the behest of america.pak’s elite military class and all political & feudal classes are sold to american dollars.
Pakistan is following the military principles of Lord Clive which were based on his childhood mischiefs of breaking window glasses of neighbours and getting paid for not to so. This statement of Hillary Clinton show that up to a certain extent, Pakistan is successful.
US occupied Afghanistan to wipe out the influence of Al-Qaeda and their protectors Taliban. Neither of this was achieved with complete success. The fall out of this mission is that religious extremism has spread throughout Pakistan. US is about to depart from this region but the risk to Pakistan is increasing by day. US policy makers must think about it seriously.
Please try the link again, I fully agree that news is not wrong. This further gets confirmed by reading the comments at thelink http://hbfc-pakistan.freewebspace.com
Pak-US relations would continuously be frustrating until the US side does not offer unconditional apology to Pakistan for killings of its 24 soldiers at Salala on 26 November 2011. It was a gruesome act of violence in the name of counter-terrorism that killed those soldiers who were holding up the entry of terrorists across both borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. That was the main reason of US Special Force to strike against those brave soldiers. The event has proved that the United States has been playing a double-game in the name of counter-insurgency. Apart from offering apology to Pakistan, United States must sincerely declare its goals in Afghanistan.
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