US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Pakistani mistrust over US intentions has some legitimacy since the United States has turned away from that country twice in the last three decades, and it will take time to win their confidence. His comments came in response to a new Pew Research Center survey that found 64 percent of Pakistanis see the United States as an enemy, but still 53 percent wanted improved relations. One of the reasons that the Pakistanis have concerns about us is that we walked away from them twice, Gates said at a news conference. We walked away from them after the Soviets left Afghanistan, and we walked away from them through the 1990s, because of the Pressler amendment, he said, referring to US sanctions on Pakistan over its nuclear program. So I think it's going to take us some time to rebuild confidence of the Pakistani people that we are a long-term friend and ally of Pakistan, he said.
