Islamabad, October 28: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew into Pakistan on Wednesday, fending off criticism that Washington takes its efforts to fight Islamist militancy for granted and promising new investments.
Clinton is the most senior US official to visit the nuclear-armed Muslim state since US President Barack Obama put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda and made the war in neighbouring Afghanistan a top priority.
“Nine months is not a long period of time to turn around a relationship that has a lot of scars,” Clinton told reporters travelling with her on the plane from Washington to the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
“It’s fair to say that we have really increased the level of conversation and sharing of information over nine months,” Clinton said.
Her arrival comes at a critical juncture for Pakistan, where a rising number of audacious attacks has shown Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked extremists can target anyone at anytime, and with the military pressing a major offensive.
Clinton said she was keen to bolster the civilian government, whose relations with the powerful military have been fraught, following on from a massive 7.5 bilion dollar non-military aid package already signed into law.
“We will be making some announcements about some of the investments we are making with Pakistan on the civilian side,” she added.
Around 30,000 troops are pressing an assault against Pakistani Taliban fighters holed up in South Waziristan, part of the tribal belt on the Afghan border where US officials say Al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on the West.
Clinton said it was “important to recognise the high price the Pakistanis are paying” in the war on Islamist militancy and said the United States “admired” what the Pakistani military was doing in Waziristan.
“They (the military) are extraordinarily committed and we have to support them the way we can,” said Clinton, who is expected to meet some of the more than 200,000 people who have been displaced by the latest offensive.
–Agencies