Pakistan and the US are repairing ties which had plunged to an all-time low, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Friday, despite violent anti-American protests rocking her country. "The last 18 months were very, very difficult," Khar said at the start of talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, adding the nations were doing "better than we could have expected to do in rebuilding the trust."
The two women leaders were meeting at the State Department as violent protests flared for another day across Pakistan, targeting American diplomatic missions, and fuelled by anger at an anti-Islam film which Muslims say insults their faith. But Khar insisted that after efforts to renew the relationship over the past few months "we stand at a time of opportunity."
"At a time of opportunity to seize the trust deficit mantra and start building on the trust by walking the talk, that achieves the interests that are clearly common." Clinton said their shared top priority was "pursuing our joint counter-terrorism objectives to ensure the security of American and Pakistan citizens alike."
The two nations "both recognised that we can achieve more when we work together on a focused agenda," said Clinton who will meet with President Asif Ali Zardari next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "At each meeting we are working to identify the strategic goals we share, and there are many. And the concrete actions we can each take to accomplish them."