WASHINGTON: Assuring lawmakers of President-elect Barack Obama's support for a Congressional measure on three-fold expansion in economic assistance for Pakistan, US Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton has vowed to pursue a 'positive' relationship with Islamabad for addressing the 'tough and complicated' problem of violent extremism afflicting the region.
"Yes, the president-elect does support the legislation that you (Kerry) were part of, Vice President-elect (Joseph) Biden and Senator (Richard) Lugar also. We want to try to begin to some extent to separate our military aid from our non-military aid.
"The tripling of non-military aid is intended to provide resources that will both support the Pakistani people and also give some tools to the democratically elected government to try to start producing results for the people of Pakistan," she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at her confirmation hearing.
Clinton was asked by Senator Kerry if she could affirm that the new administration remains absolutely committed to the Biden-Lugar measure (now likely to be named Kerry-Lugar) that seeks to enhance economic assistance for Pakistan to $1.5 billion annually over a number of years.
On the military aid aspect of the legislation, she said, the administration wants to look hard and see whether we can condition some of that on the commitment for the counter-insurgency, counterterrorism missions.
"So we certainly are inclined to support, where appropriate, the legislation you are referring to," she added. The New York senator, who has been a member of the influential panel, told her fellow lawmakers that Pakistan faces the complex problem of extremism but its government is determined to curb the menace.
"Pakistan has a particular complexity because of its nuclear weapons capacity. But the democratically elected government has been saying a lot of the right things with respect to the threat posed by extremists and terrorists, particularly along the border and in the Fata region in Pakistan.
"So, I am hopeful that we will have a very active, positive relationship with the new Pakistan government. I know that there is a lot of work being done by the outgoing administration to deepen ties between our country and various institutions in Pakistan," she said. "But this is a tough problem. It is a very complicated problem. It has many dimensions to it. As you pointed out, the relationship with India, the relationship with Afghanistan.
"The role that Iran and others are playing in that region." "We have to approach this with the same level of attention and comprehensive understanding that our military is attempting to do as it ramps up our troop commitment in Afghanistan and works more closely with the government of Pakistan to protect them from violent extremists as well as to root out al-Qaeda and other remnants of the terrorists network so that they don't find safe haven in Pakistan to plan attacks against us or any other country."
Kerry, who has succeeded Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, underscored the need for supporting Pakistan in overcoming its economic challenges. He raised his concern on a number of counts with respect to pursuance of the war on terror in Afghanistan and pointed out the need for clear definition of the US goals.
Clinton sounded agreeable to chairman of the panel Senator John Kerry's call for examining efficacy of targeting and taking out suspected terrorists in tribal areas along Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the face of counterproductive impact of such actions on hearts and minds campaign.
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