ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepared Monday for talks with senior Pakistani military and political figures and to announce a huge aid deal aimed at combating anti-American sentiment.
The US top diplomat flew into Islamabad Sunday, calling for "additional measures" by Pakistan to combat terrorism ahead of evening talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari.
The aid package to be announced on Monday will focus on water, energy and health projects, a senior US official said, part of a five-year 7.5-billion- dollar funding approved by the US Congress last year.
Clinton`s visit comes ahead of her trip to Afghanistan on Tuesday for a major international donors conference, and as Washington continues to push Islamabad for further steps to rid its western border of Islamist militants.
The United States has long voiced concern that elements of Pakistan`s powerful military and intelligence service were supporting Taliban insurgents, despite the government`s public anti-terror stance.
President Barack Obama`s administration has promised to engage more deeply with Pakistan, which has long seen Washington as interested only in securing its military cooperation in the fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan`s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will meet Clinton on Monday to reconvene the strategic dialogue started during his visit to Washington in March.
In a statement from his ministry, Qureshi said Clinton`s visit "would help give further impetus to the Pakistan-US partnership" and welcomed US engagement in development projects.
A senior US official speaking on condition of anonymity said closer ties with Pakistan`s powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were helping in the struggle against the militant Haqqani network, one of the toughest foes faced by foreign forces in Afghanistan.
"The amount of engagement we have with General Kayani... is unprecedented. We feel that we`re making some slow but steady forward movement (on Haqqani)," the official said.
On Sunday Clinton said in an interview with the BBC: "There are still additional steps that we are asking and expecting the Pakistanis to take.
She noted that Washington and Islamabad had "increased our cooperation, deepened our relationship, when it comes to fighting terrorism."
"But there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that should an attack against the United States be traced to be Pakistani it would have a very devastating impact on our relationship," she added.
Clinton lauded talks in March as a "new day" for relations between the United States and Pakistan, which floundered in the wake of the Cold War as the Western superpower distanced itself until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Pakistan and the United States had been allies throughout the Cold War years as both helped arm Islamic insurgents who ousted Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989.
"We had a long tradition of being in Pakistan providing assistance, then leaving and then coming back," said Rajiv Shah, administrator of US international aid agency, USAID.
BDST: 0859 HRS, , July 19, 2010
