Pakistan, U.S. agree to resume joint intel ops: Foreign Ministry (Reuters)

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan and the United States have agreed to resume joint intelligence operations against Islamist militants, the Pakistani foreign ministry said on Friday, in a first step toward rebuilding trust between the two countries.

The announcement came a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Pakistan's civilian and military leaders to take decisive steps against militant groups operating in the country after the discovery of Osama bin Laden in a garrison town.

"There will be joint operations. These could be intelligence sharing," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told Reuters.

Asked whether Pakistan would allow U.S. troops to conduct operations along with their Pakistani counterparts, she said she would not go into details.

However, she added: "Obviously the question of sovereignty is supreme to us and everything will be done through consultations."

A U.S. official traveling with Clinton during her visit to Islamabad last week suggested at the time there could be special operations to attack militants in Pakistan, seen as a threat to not just foreign forces in Afghanistan, but also Western interests elsewhere.

Bin Laden's discovery and killing by American special forces in a garrison town just 50 km (30 miles) from the capital Islamabad on May 2 raised fresh doubts about Pakistan's reliability as a U.S. partner against militancy.

Joint intelligence operations between Pakistan and the United States since 2001 have led to the arrest of several key al Qaeda and Taliban figures in Pakistan.

However, such operations had been frozen since January following the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis for shooting to death two Pakistanis. Davis was finally released after the paying of monetary compensation to the heirs of slain people under an Islamic law prevalent in Pakistan.

A Pakistan analyst said resumption of joint operations was a "step in the right direction" but both uneasy allies need to do a lot more to mitigate their mistrust.

"It shows they are trying to restore their confidence in each other and trying to get the best possible results through a joint approach rather then pursuing individual approaches," said Talat Masood, a security analyst and a retired general.

"(But) mistrust won't go away right away. ... We have to wait and see how this is implemented."

Washington sees Islamabad as a critical ally in its efforts to stabilize war-ravaged Afghanistan but their relations have always been shrouded in mistrust and suspicions.

In a sign of continuing difficulties in ties, Pakistan has asked the United States to halve the presence of military trainers, numbering around 130, stationed in the country.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told reporters in Washington on Thursday that there would be a significant cutback in the number of U.S. trainers, but it was "not going to zero."

(Editing by Chris Allbritton and Sanjeev Miglani)

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Clinton, Joint Chiefs chairman press Pakistan (AP)

ISLAMABAD – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Pakistan on Friday to repair badly frayed relations after the killing of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden at a comfortable hideout not far from this capital city.

Amid frustration in both countries with the other's priorities, Clinton was joined by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to deliver a twofold message.

The United States wants to soothe nerves and hurt feelings following the raid nearly a month ago by U.S. Navy SEALs on bin Laden's compound, a strike that was kept secret even from Pakistan's top Army and intelligence officials.

But Clinton and Mullen also were telling Pakistan it must show renewed commitment to U.S. security interests, chiefly to eradicate safe havens for militants who attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The pair hammered home a warning that lower-ranking U.S. officials have been making to Pakistan since the bin Laden raid: The billions of dollars in military and development aid that flow to Pakistan annually will dwindle if Pakistan is seen to play both sides.

Mullen and Clinton were meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and the nation's army and spy chiefs in back to back meetings under extremely tight security. Clinton's visit was not announced in advance for fear of an assassination attempt or terror strike.

Clinton and Mullen are the highest-ranking U.S. officials to confer with Pakistani leaders since the raid, which splintered already fragile support in both countries for the agenda of cooperation that top U.S. and Pakistani officials say they want.

In Paris on Thursday, Clinton acknowledged that Pakistan has not always done all that the U.S. wanted to go after militants hiding on its soil. Pakistan has waged a two-year campaign against militants targeting the weak U.S.-backed government but has done little to expunge safe havens for militants who attack U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The U.S. will keep pressing that point and trying to strengthen a relationship with nuclear-armed Pakistan, Clinton said, because it's in the long-term security interest of the U.S. to do so.

"There have been times when we wanted to push harder, and for various reasons they have not," Clinton said. "Those differences are real. They will continue." She added strong praise for Pakistani cooperation since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying the country had allowed the killing of "more terrorists than anyplace else in the world."

Pakistan's prime minister said Thursday that his country will use "all appropriate means" to attack militant hideouts inside the country, amid rising criticism of the nation's security forces in the wake of a deadly 16-hour assault on a naval base last weekend.

Yousuf Raza Gilani gave no indication the army was considering new offensives along the Afghan border, where most of the militants in Pakistan are based along with other groups and affiliates who are the greatest danger to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The United States wants to see action in the North Waziristan region especially, where a deadly Afghan Taliban faction is based, to help it put pressure on Afghan insurgents and enable it to begin withdrawing troops later this summer after 10 years of war.

"We do have a set of expectations that we are looking for the Pakistani government to meet," Clinton said, but "it is not as though they have been on the sidelines."

The U.S. raid on May 2 that killed bin Laden has enraged Pakistanis and undermined the credibility of the country's military.

The Pakistani government has demanded that some U.S. military counterterror trainers leave the country. Pakistani leaders also have done little to tamp down anti-American fervor following the bin Laden raid, and at times have appeared to whip it up.

The U.S. has been quietly helping train Pakistan security forces in the northwest, but that cooperation has faltered after the bin Laden raid.

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Raw Data: Boehner, Reid Joint Statement on Budget Deal

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House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tonight released the following statement Friday night:

"We have agreed to an historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year, as well as a short-term bridge that will give us time to avoid a shutdown while we get that agreement through both houses and to the President. We will cut $78.5 billion below the President's 2011 budget proposal, and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders. In the meantime, we will pass a short-term resolution to keep the government running through Thursday. That short-term bridge will cut the first $2 billion of the total savings."

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