Senator Kerry meets Pakistan Army chief
May 16th, 2011 - 1:19 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, May 16 (IANS) US senator John Kerry has met Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who apprised him of the “intense feelings” within the army on the US raid at Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden.
General Kayani told Senator Kerry, who is chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, about “intense feelings of rank and file of Pakistan Army” on the dramatic US assault May 2 to take out the Al Qaeda leader.
Xinhua reported that Kerry arrived late Sunday night and met the Pakistan army chief to try to get back on track the relations that have deteriorated since the US action.
“It was decided to hold detailed discussion on the Pak-US relations during the joint meeting with civilian leadership of the country,” a military statement said after Kerry’s meeting with General Kayani.
Kerry is also likely to meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
US media reported that Kerry will carry a list of actions to ease tensions. A senior US official has been quoted as saying that the US would try to use as leverage the threat of Congressional cuts to the $3 billion in annual aid to Pakistan.
On Saturday, Kerry told reporters in Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif that terror attacks in the country are carried out by insurgents trained in Pakistan.
“It is really critical that we talk with the Pakistanis, as friends, in the best effort to try to achieve the most cooperation possible to make all of us safer. We believe that Pakistan itself is challenged from these insurgents, extremists and terrorists,” Kerry told reporters.
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