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Summary Differences remain on some issues with Pakistan, says Grossman
Both Pakistan and the United States are making a sustained effort to overcome difficulties in the bilateral relationship and President Asif Ali Zardari believes that bridging trust deficit is key to making the partnership meaningful, top Pakistani officials said Monday.Presidential spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar and ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman said at a briefing that Pakistan wants a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the United States. They spoke after the Pakistani president’s meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.“We are trying, they are also trying, to bridge the trust deficit. I hope we will be able to resolve,” Babar said in response to a series of questions about stalemate in relations between the two countries.Meanwhile, US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman has said that some differences exist with Pakistan over reopening of supply routes and time would be required to resolve those issues.Talking to media persons at Chicago, he said that President Zardari did meet with President Karzai and with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Chicago and discussed Pakistan’s role in regional peace and the end stages of Nato involvement in Afghanistan.He said that time would be required for issues to be resolved with Pakistan.The meeting between Mr. Zardari and Clinton lasted for over an hour. Others present included Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter.Grossman said that the meeting included “a complete review of all of our bilateral partnerships.” He added that the purpose was to focus on “how to move forward in this relationship.”The senior US envoy said the talks will help with the ongoing negotiations over the NATO supply routes, and he played down the significance of the Obama-Karzai-Zardari meeting that did not take place, saying it would be better for Afghanistan and Pakistan to hold direct bilateral talks.
