Clinton in Pakistan to mend relationship

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured in London on Monday, is expected to warn Pakistan that aid is in jeopardy.Clinton will lay out in a "no-kidding" way what the U.S. expects, says one officialThe secretary will warn that U.S. aid is in jeopardy unless Pakistan makes progressClinton said recently that a strong U.S.-Pakistan relationship "is in our national interests"Clinton and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mullen will meet with Pakistani leaders

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived here Friday for talks with Pakistan's leaders aimed at repairing the tattered relationship between the two countries in the wake of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

She is being met by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for what one senior State Department official said would be a "sober" set of talks about the need for Pakistan to root out terrorists in its country. Clinton and Mullen will meet with President Asif Ali Zardari, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pervaiz Kayani and Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha, head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.

The Pakistanis "are on thin ice," a different senior official said. Neither would speak on the record because the trip had not been officially announced.

Specifically, Clinton will tell the Pakistanis the United States is looking for Pakistan to demonstrate a willingness to go after senior al Qaeda targets, take action against factories producing improvised explosive devices for use against U.S. troops in Afghanistan and support Taliban reconciliation, the officials told CNN.

Contrary to previous visits in which Clinton unveiled detailed initiatives on future U.S. assistance to Pakistan, officials said the secretary will warn that U.S. aid is in jeopardy unless Pakistan makes progress on several key U.S. points, and will lay out certain benchmarks for the Pakistani government to meet.

"She is going to lay out in a 'no-kidding' way the results and degrees of progress that need to be met on each of these areas to constitute the relationship getting back on track," one official said.

Clinton had been expected to visit Pakistan earlier this month for more fulsome talks, as part of the two countries' "Strategic Dialogue," which covers more than a dozen areas of cooperation between Washington and Islamabad. But she postponed her visit after the raid on bin Laden's compound by U.S. Navy SEALs.

The revelation that the al Qaeda leader was living in plain sight for years amongst Pakistani military installations, and Pakistan's humiliation at the U.S. decision to undertake the raid without telling them, has thrown the relationship into one of its worst points in history, and officials say cooperation between the two sides has slowed significantly.

Officials said Clinton felt it was important not to let the mistrust on both sides fester and decided to make a short visit to deliver a two-fold message: Pakistan is on thin ice with its U.S. ally, but the relationship between the two sides is too important to abandon.

"The fact of the matter is that the international community has been able to kill more terrorists on Pakistani soil than any place else in the world. We could not have done that without Pakistani cooperation," Clinton told reporters in Paris earlier this week. "I believe strongly it is in our national security interests to have a comprehensive, long-term partnership with the government and people of Pakistan."

Clinton added that the United States has "across the board" expectations of what they want the Pakistan government to meet. Last week, Marc Grossman, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, traveled to Islamabad, where he delivered the set of demands, emphasizing the United States needed actions, not words from Pakistan, according to a senior official briefed on the talks. The official was not authorized to speak on the record.

During several meetings with Zardari, Kayani and Pasha, Grossman said the United States was looking for more cooperation from Pakistan in fighting extremism. The meetings were described by a senior official briefed on the talks as "tough, but fruitful." The talks followed a visit a few days earlier by Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who delivered a similarly tough message

During the meetings with Grossman, the senior U.S. official said, Kayani voiced strong concern about the continuation of U.S. drone strikes against targets inside Pakistan, but he and other members of the Pakistani leadership expressed a willingness to press al Qaeda, conduct joint operations and support reconciliation.

Officials point to enough progress since Grossman's visit, including the fact Pakistan returned the tail of a helicopter that was left behind after the raid, for Clinton to make the trip to Pakistan.

But they say the relationship between the two countries needs serious repairing before cooperation on areas important to Pakistan can continue. Two weeks ago, the Pakistanis asked the United States to reduce the number of military trainers in Pakistan. A Pentagon spokesman said this week the U.S. has begun to comply and is removing some of the more than 200 personnel who are posted there.

"There is sufficient agreement that we have to find a way forward," one official said. "But there are a few things that we need to get right as a foundation for the rest of it."

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Obama in London: Ping-pong diplomacy and pomp bolster 'special relationship' (The Christian Science Monitor)

London – The focus as President Obama starts his three-day state visit to Britain today is strengthening what's long been termed the "special relationship."

To many in Britain, the relationship is no longer as special as they might hope. As the historian Niall Ferguson said this morning in an interview on BBC Radio 4, “The British think they’re in a special relationship, but the Americans have quite a few special relationships and I don't think that we’re the most special.”

The need to stress the close bonds between the US and the UK is partly an admission of the trickier relationships the US has with the rest of Europe right now and partly a nod to British support in Afghanistan.

But the relationship is hardly in danger, according to Alexis Crow of the London think tank Chatham House. “Ireland, the UK, and Poland are steadfast allies for the US so this is a step into shallow water for him,” she says. “There’s so much publicity here and back in the US and if you’re looking ahead to 2012, this kind of coverage plays well to the east coast voters and well-educated voters. But at the same time he has made it clear his No. 1 priority is the economy.”

IN PICTURES: President Obama visits Britain

Obama is sometimes seen here as the least Anglophile of recent presidents. But he remains hugely popular – and appears bent on fortifying the foundation on which the two countries stand. Writing jointly with Prime Minister David Cameron in the Times, Obama states the bond between the US and the UK is not just a special relationship but “an essential relationship – for us and for the world.”

In the same article, Obama and Mr. Cameron refer to the relationship between former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former President Ronald Reagan, and how their partnership helped end the cold war. They suggest the same links between the US and the UK today can make a similar contribution to peace and prosperity around the world.

But, suggests Ms. Crow, the world has moved on and the relationship between the two nations with it.

“It’s a much more complex picture today for Washington as is seeks to choose allies,” she says. “For the last 70 years, it’s automatically looked to its NATO allies as default allies, but now it’s going to have be more flexible as it looks to manage security risks collectively around the world.”

In the long run, she adds, the UK will not necessarily be the default ally of the US.

That said, Obama clearly has a great personal rapport with Cameron, with whom he teamed up to challenge students at London's Globe Academy to a ping-pong match. His relationship with the queen is equally comfortable. So for now, at least, it’s all sweetness and smiles, as the president and his wife, Michelle, enjoy all the pomp and pageantry a state visit to the UK entails.

That included a 41-gun salute this morning when the Obamas were welcomed by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace, where the Obamas will stay for the next two nights. Obama and former President Bush are the only two presidents to have been honored with a full state visit during her reign.

After meeting the recently married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the president and his wife visited Westminster Abbey. Tonight, the queen hosts a state banquet at the palace in their honor, before Obama addresses the houses of Parliament tomorrow.

IN PICTURES: President Obama visits Britain

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U.S. treads fine line in relationship with Pakistan

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned whether Pakistani intelligence knew Osama bin Laden's hiding place and want to ramp up pressure on the country, but U.S. experts say it could be dangerous to push too hard on the nuclear-armed country that borders Afghanistan.

Pakistani soldiers keep guard in front of Osama bin Laden's compound following his death by U.S. Special Forces.

Bin Laden was shot to death Sunday by Navy SEALs in a compound less than a mile from the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, a garrison town inhabited by retired and active duty Pakistani military officers. President Obama said no other country was notified of the raid before it happened.

Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., said he told Pakistan's head of mission in Washington that "this is a defining moment in our relationship" and that Pakistan cannot expect continued financial support before these questions are answered.

"We've not gotten the cooperation we need," King said, following a briefing with CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Members of Congress asked Panetta what Pakistani intelligence knew or didn't know in the briefing, King said.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, warned against abandoning Pakistan, which has helped root out terrorists and is facing rising Islamic radicalism on its soil.

"It's a complicated relationship … and we do have our differences," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Still, "there are many people in the Pakistan government … so you have to be careful about tarring everyone."

The relationship has been characterized for decades by on-again, off-again American interest in South Asia, and a Pakistani defense doctrine that relies on its influence in Afghanistan as a way to counter its powerful Indian neighbor, which it fears, experts say.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan are supplied through Pakistan, which has the world's fifth-largest nuclear arsenal.

The United States has accused Pakistan in the past of cultivating a relationship with the Afghan Taliban and allowing its leaders to use Pakistani border areas as a safe haven.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has said bin Laden's death arose from U.S.-Pakistani cooperation and Pakistan has lost more than 32,000 lives in its fight with al-Qaeda, including that of his wife, Banazir Bhutto.

Pakistan would want its friends in the Taliban to prevail in Afghanistan in case of a quick U.S. withdrawal, said Andrew Wilder, director of Afghanistan and Pakistan programs at the United States Institute of Peace. But if the U.S. stays in Afghanistan, Pakistan would prefer a stable government there, he said.

"The Pakistani military has been weakened by the killing of Osama bin Laden, maybe somewhat embarrassed," Wilder said. "Now would be a good time to negotiate more out of them on the Afghan side, not to support the Afghan Taliban."

American officials should be clear that they're not abandoning the region, and Sunday's operation should make it clear "we're serious," says Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. The U.S. should "let them know when what they're doing is anathema to our interests," and the possibility of more unilateral operations on their soil "has to be part of the message," she said.

Contributing: Richard Wolf

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