Key US senator wants improved US-Pakistan relationship

Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has expressed support for improved US-Pakistan relationship, saying the bilateral ties are important to international security.
“I think it s very important,” she said Monday at World Affairs Council, when asked how important the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship is to international security.
“I would like to see an improved relationship. I’d like to do anything that I possibly could to help that improved relationship,” the senator said in a discussion on U.S. and global intelligence gathering abilities and security issues.
The Democratic lawmaker from California said “there is a new head of the Pakistan intelligence unit.”
“I think we have made very clear to Pakistan what our concerns are. And the Pakistanis’ agreeing to reopen the GLOCs, which are the routes in which equipment comes into Afghanistan, I think, that is a very good sign.”
At the same time, she referred to the cross-border attacks into Afghanistan another issue that needs to be addressed.
“We now have another problem, with attacks coming from Pakistan directly into Afghanistan. And so there is a real need there for Pakistan to step up (to stop).”
The lawmaker also underlined the need to build trust between the Washington and Islamabad.
“And we need to develop trust. The trust is very low between the two countries. So these are some of the things that I think need to get done,” she added.
The senator called for designating the Afghan Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organization.