A U.S Senior State Department Official today reported that Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited New York City for an important meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The U.S. State Department Official shared a background meeting of what transpired during the conversation with the two leaders.
“Secretary Clinton, in looking at her schedule for the United Nations General Assembly, said that she wanted to really sit down with the foreign minister of Pakistan – not for 20 minutes or 30 minutes as just a bilateral, but really sit down and talk and have a conversation about where Pakistan and the United States were headed.” -Senior Department Official
The Senior Department Official also stressed that the goal was to have the two ministers sit and really talk to one another. The Secretary wanted to make sure that she was given the time and respect to hear Pakistan’s views and she hoped that they would similarly listen to the U.S. government views.
“Needless to say, the attacks in Kabul on the 13th of September changed the nature of the meeting. And although it still lasted a good long time and we did review the whole nature of our relationship, that as you heard before, the issue of counterterrorism and particularly the issue of the Haqqani Network was, as you can imagine, the first thing on the Secretary’s agenda and also the last.” -Senior Department Official
The Senior Department Official said the Secretary’s message was clear one which was that given the efforts of the Haqqani Network on the 13th of September, the issue was that both countries had to deal with and it is a threat to both Pakistan and the United States.
“The foreign minister was quite clear in return that they couldn’t condemn more the attacks of the 13th of September on the U.S. Embassy and ISAF Headquarters, and that this kind of terrorism was a threat to Pakistan and to Pakistanis as well.” – Senior Department Official
The Senior Department Official also reported that since 2003, almost 19,000 Pakistanis have been killed in terrorist attacks. It is is something that these terrorists are not just a threat to people outside of Pakistan, they’re certainly a threat to people inside of Pakistan.
The Senior Department official said the conversation concluded that joint efforts need to be made to end the threat from the Haqqanis, and that Pakistan and the United States ought to be working together on this and not separately. Both ministers also committed themselves to working on the issue as a matter of priority.