U.S., Pakistan to Cooperate on High-Value Targets after Bin Laden Row
Pakistan and the United States sought Monday to smooth a damaging row caused by Osama bin Laden's killing, calling for closer cooperation with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton poised to visit.
Pakistan's civilian and military leaders were left angry and embarrassed over a unilateral U.S. raid on May 2 that discovered and killed al-Qaida's chief living, possibly for years, two hours' drive from the Pakistani capital.
It rocked the country's seemingly powerful security establishment, with its intelligence services and military widely accused of incompetence or complicity over the presence of bin Laden in a suburban house in the city of Abbottabad.
Pakistan's parliament demanded no repeat of the raid, although U.S. President Barack Obama has reserved the right to act again, and Islamabad insisted U.S. drone strikes targeting Taliban and al-Qaida leaders on its territory must end.
The military threatened to review intelligence cooperation in the war on al-Qaida and Islamabad called the raid "unauthorized unilateral action".
Demanding progress by "actions not by words" and emphasizing that U.S. lawmakers were demanding a review of billions in aid money to Pakistan, Senator John Kerry delivered a tough message cloaked in diplomatic speak to Islamabad.
"Ultimately, the Pakistani people will decide what kind of country Pakistan becomes, whether it is a haven for extremists or the tolerant democracy that (Pakistani founder) Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisioned 64 years ago," he said.
In a televised address, Kerry said he had Obama's backing "to find a way to rebuild the trust" after previously warning of "profound" consequences if the allies cannot fix their fractured ties.
"Many in Congress are raising tough questions about our ongoing economic assistance to the government of Pakistan because of the events as they unfolded, because of the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan," he said.
Kerry reiterated "grave concerns" over the presence in Pakistan of bin Laden and sanctuaries of U.S. enemies in Afghanistan, calling for "realistic expectations" about ties between two countries with real differences.
Nevertheless he emphasized: "We are strategic partners with a common enemy in terrorism and extremism. Both of our countries have sacrificed ... so much that it just wouldn't make sense to see this relationship broken or abandoned."
The United States depends on Pakistani logistical and military support to fight the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
Cash-strapped Pakistan has relied in turn on $18 billion from the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks, when Pakistan officially ended support for Afghanistan's Taliban and agreed to work with Washington.
In 2009, Congress also authorized $7.5 billion to help bolster the weak civilian government by building schools, roads and democratic institutions.
Kerry said Pakistan had "recommitted to find more ways to work against the common threat of terrorism" and to increase cooperation on intelligence sharing and operations to "defeat the enemies that we face".
He said two senior U.S. government officials will arrive in Islamabad this week to work on the details of implementing "these initial steps," and that Clinton "will soon announce plans to visit Pakistan to develop new trust."
In one tangible, concrete achievement, Kerry said Pakistan would return on Tuesday the tail of a helicopter. Navy SEALs destroyed the chopper during the operation that got bin Laden after a hard landing.
Pakistan, which has lost thousands of soldiers and civilians in the fight against homegrown Taliban and to al-Qaida-inspired bomb attacks, said the allies would work together on future high-value targets in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani joined forces with Kerry to say that the two countries now needed to rebuild trust.
"It was the need of the hour that Pakistan and U.S. should rebuild the trust and confidence between their governments and institutions," his office said in a statement released after his talks with Kerry.
There have been heightened security fears in Pakistan since the bin Laden operation and the killing of a Saudi diplomat in a hail of gunfire Monday was the second attack on Saudi interests in Karachi in less than a week.
Last Wednesday, drive-by assailants threw two grenades at the consulate in Karachi in what officials said could have been a reaction to Saudi-born bin Laden's death.
Source: Agence France Presse
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