WASHINGTON: United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the United States cannot abandon Pakistan in a difficult times, adding that it is necessary for Pakistan help solve Afghanistan’s difficulties; otherwise the region would continue facing problems.
This she said while addressing a meeting arranged by the Center for American Progress in Washington. She said this is a very difficult relationship but I believe strongly it is not one we can walk away from and expect that anything will turn out better, adding that the United States had no choice but to work with Pakistan in trying to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan. “Pakistan has to be part of the solution or they will continue to be part of the problem,” she added.
She said that we just keep every day going at it and I think we make very slow, sometimes barely discernible progress, but we’re moving in the right direction.
Her comments were the latest in a series by US officials exposing the difficulty of the relationship with Pakistan, particularly after Washington publicly accused its powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting militants. Meanwhile DG ISI Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha has denied the US accusations of connections with militants.