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Clinton charm effort hit by suspicion

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-30 09:26

LAHORE: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Pakistan charm offensive rolled into a wall of suspicion at one of the country's top universities yesterday as students drilled her on whether the US was truly ready to be a steadfast partner in a time of crisis.

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Clinton, on the second day of a three-day visit aimed at turning around a US-Pakistan relationship under serious strain, was presented with stark evidence of the "trust deficit" that yawns between the two countries, now bound together in the struggle against religious extremism.

"What guarantee can the Americans give Pakistanis that we can now trust you ... and that you guys are not going to be betraying us like you did in the past," one student asked at a "townhall-style" meeting Clinton held at the Government College University in Lahore.

Clinton, who has sought to use her own personal outreach to overcome rising anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, repeated her conviction that the two countries' common interests far outweighed their differences.

"I am well aware that there is a trust deficit," Clinton said. "My message is that's not the way it should be. We cannot let a minority of people in both countries determine our relationship."

Clinton's arrival in Pakistan on Wednesday was overshadowed by a huge car bomb blast that ripped through a market in the city of Peshawar and killed 105, one of the deadliest attacks by Islamic militants seeking to destabilize the country.

Pakistani security forces said they killed 11 more militants yesterday, bringing the total fatality to over 280, as the operation in the country's tribal area steadily progressed toward the Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan. The army's offensive has triggered retaliatory attacks in cities by Taliban sympathizers.

Clinton urged Pakistan's youth to stand firm against the forces of religious extremism, saying it threatened everything that both Americans and Pakistanis hold dear.

Clinton said inaction by the government would have amounted to ceding ground to terrorists.

"If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice," she said, adding that she believed it would be a bad choice.

Dozens of students rushed to line up for the microphone when the session began. Their questions were not hostile, but showed a strong sense of doubt that the US can be a reliable and trusted partner for Pakistan.

Taking a tougher tone later yesterday, Clinton told newspaper editors it was "hard to believe" that no one in Pakistan's government knew where Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaida leaders were hiding.

Reuters-AP