Obama, Gilani vow to rescue anti-terror alliance
S Korea: US President Barack Obama and Pakistan’s Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani vowed Tuesday to rescue a troubled anti-terror
alliance which almost ruptured over 10 months of mistrust and
recriminations.
The leaders met on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in
Seoul, in the highest-level exchange between the two sides since the
killing of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine US raid on Pakistani soil
last May chilled ties.
More recently a new breach opened up over the mistaken killing of 24
Pakistani soldiers in November in US air strikes, which prompted
Islamabad to curtail American drone strikes and cut NATO supply lines
into Afghanistan.
“There have been times -- I think we should be candid -- over the
last several months where those relations have had periods of strains,”
Obama told reporters as the meeting opened. “But I welcome the fact that
the parliament of Pakistan is reviewing, after some extensive study, the
nature of this relationship.
“I think it’s important to get it right. I think it’s important for
us to have candid dialogue, to work through these issues.” Both leaders
expressed a desire to stabilise and secure the situation in the long
Afghan war, which has been beset by setbacks, including a massacre of
Afghan civilians by a US soldier and attacks on NATO troops by their
colleagues in the Afghan security forces. “We are both interested in a
stable and secure Afghanistan and a stable and secure region,” Obama
said. Gilani said: “We are committed to fighting against extremism. We
want stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “We want to work together
with you,” he told Obama.
Pakistani lawmakers have demanded an American apology and taxes on
NATO convoys in recommendations put to parliament, to be debated as a
possible precursor to reopening NATO supply lines for the Afghan war.
AFP
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