WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan meet Wednesday in a new bid to smooth out an uneasy partnership, with Washington ready to offer fresh military assistance despite unease in India. The three-day talks are the latest round of “strategic dialogue,” an initiative by President Barack Obama's administration to show Pakistan's skeptical public that it wants ties beyond just cooperation on Afghanistan. The talks come after Pakistan temporarily shut down the main crossing for war supplies heading into Afghanistan, infuriated by a NATO helicopter strike that killed Pakistani soldiers in the border area. Frank Ruggiero, the US deputy special representative on Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the talks aimed to “move beyond these tensions.” He said the US side would take up support for Pakistan's economy, flood survivors and military. “We specifically worked with the Pakistanis over the summer to identify what would be the types of military equipment and so on,” Ruggiero told reporters. “That will be a topic of discussion at the strategic dialogue.” The US Congress last year approved a five-year, 7.5 billion-dollar package for Pakistan aimed at building schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions in hopes of denting the appeal of extremists. Obama next month pays his first visit to India, hoping to show that he wants a deeper relationship and is not preoccupied by Pakistan and China. The US has also been seeking military contracts from India as it tries to modernize its force. The United States has hailed Pakistan's commitment to fighting its homegrown Taliban, including launching a major offensive in its tribal areas. But New Delhi has pressed for Pakistan to do more against anti-Indian extremists such as those linked to the bloody 2008 assault on Mumbai. ‘Al-Qaeda in Pakistan hit hard' The CIA's expanding operations in Pakistan have taken “a serious toll” on the Al-Qaeda network, the spy agency director, Leon Panetta, has told US media. But he said it remained unclear whether the effort had prevented a possible terror plot against European cities, the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying Tuesday. Panetta did not specify bombing raids by unmanned aircraft in Pakistan as US officials do not publicly discuss the campaign. But the CIA missile strikes are an open secret, and US officials privately describe the program as a vital tool in the fight against Al-Qaeda and allied militants based in northwest Pakistan. Referring to stepped up operations, Panetta said the effort is “taking a serious toll” on Al-Qaeda's capabilities, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The basis for that increased pace is intelligence, weather and also just the threat streams we're getting on potential attacks in Europe,” Panetta said. The CIA also is pursuing the Haqqani network, a Pakistani militant outfit that targets US-led forces in Afghanistan, he said. US officials have been frustrated over Pakistan's apparent reluctance to go after the Haqqani group.
