Strengthening partnership with Pak

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PTI | Fri, 26 Mar, 2010,10:12 AM . Underlining that the Obama administration has made a 'strategic priority' to strengthen its partnership with Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the US efforts in that country was vital for American success in Afghanistan. . In Pakistan, our efforts are vital to success in Afghanistan, but also to our own American security. We've made it a strategic priority to strengthen our partnership with the Pakistani people, Clinton said before Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programmes. I'm under no illusion that success in this arena will come quickly or easily. But think about where we were a year ago. The extremists were 100 miles from Islamabad. They met little resistance in launching attacks on American troops from border areas. Since then, the Pakistani Government has launched important offences in Swat, South Waziristan and throughout the country, she said. Clinton said the US is moving in the right direction and the progress that they have made is possible because the US has demonstrated a clear commitment to work with the people and the Government of Pakistan. Yesterday at the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, we worked very hard - in fact, late into the night - to advance the resolve that we have begun building with the Pakistani leadership. The USD 370 million we're requesting for assistance and operations in this supplemental will allow us to expand civilian cooperation at a critical moment, Clinton said. The top US diplomat argued that the military offensives have created new humanitarian needs that, if not addressed immediately, could make these areas ripe for extremism. And in much of the country, water, energy, and economic problems create new challenges. So our success depends on rapidly and sustainably scaling up our efforts, especially in high-impact projects that visibly demonstrate our long-term commitment on helping the Pakistanis build capacity while ensuring accountability, she noted.

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