US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton warned against abandoning Pakistan again as she urged Capitol Hill to back the administration's request for assistance for key allies including Islamabad. "We are trying to deepen our relationship. There are many challenges confronting us, but we know what happens when we walk away from Pakistan.
We did it before, and the results, unfortunately, were quite dire for us," she told lawmakers in a testimony before a House Appropriations Committee. In Pakistan, she said, the United States "continues to demonstrate its commitment to an enduring strategic partnership focused on economic, military and police assistance to help root out extremists and support other critical investments."
Clinton noted that the US standing in Pakistan is difficult. "When I became secretary of state, I realised that our public standing was as low as in Pakistan or any country in the world. And there are many reasons for that."