Clinton Makes Surprise Visit to Pakistan to Ask 'Tough Questions'

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew into Pakistan on Friday with "tough questions" for the country's leadership nearly a month after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad.

The top U.S. diplomat is to meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and the chief of Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the State Department said.

Clinton will be accompanied in the meetings by chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and is expected to demand more cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

She will also likely push for an investigation into bin Laden's time as a fugitive in Pakistan, and help push for a political solution to the nearly 10-year war against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Relations between Pakistan and the United States, wary at the best of times, sank to new lows after U.S. Navy SEALs swooped on the al-Qaida chief's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, home to a military academy, on May 2.

Kayani has said any similar raid would prompt a review of military cooperation with the United States and Islamabad asked Washington to reduce the strength of U.S. military personnel to a minimum.

Western officials have long accused Pakistan's intelligence services of playing a double game by fighting Islamist militants who pose a domestic threat, but protecting those who fight against American troops in Afghanistan.

"They are now having to look at some very tough questions that they either tried to avoid or which they gave inadequate answers to before," a senior U.S. official told reporters travelling with Clinton.

"They have cooperated. We have always wanted more... But now the sense of urgency is different," the official added.

In Paris on Thursday, Clinton said the United States had "expectations" from Pakistan but stressed that it wanted "long-term" security ties with the country, seen as integral to the war effort in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's leaders were humiliated by the discovery that bin Laden had been living, possibly for years, in Abbottabad and by the American raid, which unfolded without Pakistan being told.

Pakistani troops have been fighting homegrown Taliban for years in its northwest and militant attacks have killed more than 4,400 people across the country since July 2007 in revenge attacks for the government's U.S. alliance.

"We have to see what they're prepared to do... From their perspective they've done a lot," said the U.S. official.

"What they never really grasped is how much more they have to do in order to protect themselves and, from our point of view, protect our interests and assist us in ways that are going to facilitate our transition in Afghanistan."

Clinton is expected to welcome Pakistan's "positive actions" in the aftermath of bin Laden's death, such as providing access to the compound and his wives, and giving back the tail of a helicopter damaged in the raid.

"Opportunities and risks were created by the bin Laden operation. Our job is to try to minimize the risks and to maximize the opportunity," the official told reporters.

Pakistan has suffered a wave of attacks since the May 2 raid, with the country's main Taliban faction claiming a series of major hits to avenge his death in the American raid, further embarrassing the security forces.

The latest attack killed 32 people in a suicide car bomb outside a Pakistani police station in the northwestern town of Hangu late Thursday.

The government this week authorized "all means" to wipe out militants, but stopped short of unveiling specific new military operations.

The United States has long put pressure on Pakistan to lead a major air and ground offensive in North Waziristan, the most notorious Taliban and al-Qaida bastion used to launch attacks across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has always maintained that any such operation would be of its own time and choosing, arguing that its 140,000 troops committed to the northwest are too overstretched fighting against militants who pose a domestic threat.