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Ties hinge on probe into sanctuary: US

US Ambassador Cameron Munter suggested on Monday that the future of the US-Pakistan relationship would depend on Pakistan`s efforts to investigate the intelligence failure that allowed Osama bin Laden to hide out in the garrison city of Abbottabad until he was killed in an operation carried out by American forces last week.
“Rather than saying that the
US-Pakistan relationship is in trouble, it`s very important that the questions that have been raised are answered,” he remarked in an interview when asked to comment on the state of the partnership. “And those questions are about whether it was the complicity or the inefficiency of the Pakistani authorities in the presence of Bin Laden. Those are questions that are being raised by the Pakistani people, by the American people and by our leaders,” Mr Munter said.
“Once the Government of Pakistan answers those questions, which I hope they do, we will able to say, let`s take a look ahead at what comes next.” But at the same time the American envoy did not agree with the observation that the relationship between the two countries had touched a new low. “Rather than focusing on whether we are at the bottom of our relationship, let`s focus on the questions that people need answered and move ahead.”
He further said: “It means honest conversations about our intelligence relationship, our military relationship and our political relationship. We are hoping that in the coming days we can have high-level discussions because there`s so much we have in common. In my mind it is quite clear that Pakistan is very committed to fighting terrorism, and so are we.”
When asked about CIA Director Leon Panetta`s comments to the media last week that Pakistani authorities were not given advance warning about the Osama bin Laden operation because of fears the information could be passed on to the target, Mr Munter said this was a matter of operational security rather than a reflection of a trust deficit between the two countries` intelligence agencies.
“Operational security is key,” he said. “Very few people know ahead of time what`s going to happen and that`s just a requirement of an operation like that.”
According to Mr Munter, President Barack Obama`s proposed visit to Pakistan this year, now postponed, had never been finalised. “President Obama`s visit, according to the White House, was never on the schedule. That is to say, we hoped to see a presidential visit but there was never a time or a date set and there still isn`t a time or a date set.”

15:29 | |

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