PRESIDENT Barack Obama will bypass Pakistan when he visits India and east Asia next month, in the latest twist in America’s tempestuous relationship with its vital ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
But the White House said the president had committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011 and added that he looked forward to welcoming Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington, though no dates were specified.
Obama smoothly scotched speculation he would make a surprise visit to Islamabad on his trip, which begins in just over two weeks, in a meeting with a Pakistani delegation taking part in a strategic dialogue with US officials.
“The president explained that he would not be stopping in Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, and committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011,” a White House statement said.
Any trip to Pakistan by Obama would have been fraught with political sensitivity and security concerns, and may have been seen as a distraction from the symbolism of his three-day visit to India.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was part of the Pakistani delegation, said Obama’s statement was evidence of the high level of US-Pakistani ties.
“The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place,” Qureshi said.
The US and Pakistan have been going through another rocky patch in their tense, nine-year marriage of convenience, which emerged from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In a recent report to Congress, the White House said bluntly that though Pakistan had made sacrifices in the US anti-terror campaign, it could do more to crack down on extremist safe-havens in lawless tribal areas.
In the meeting with Pakistani delegates to the three-day US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, Obama said it was important to move the mutual relationship to a “true partnership based on mutual respect and common interests.”
“The president and the Pakistani delegation agreed on the need for regional stability, and specifically on the importance of cooperating toward a peaceful and stable outcome in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates held a 30-minute meeting with powerful Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, about the aftermath of a cross-border NATO raid that severely strained relations.
Cooperation between military commanders had improved, “but this incident clearly indicates that there’s more work to be done,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, referring to the helicopter raid that left two Pakistani soldiers dead.
Obama also touched on the situation in Pakistan during his latest regular monthly meeting with his Afghanistan war cabinet.
