Hillary Clinton urges openness between U.S., Pakistan

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday she did not come to Pakistan for "happy talk."

Her three-day trip is aimed at getting frank, open discussions going about the fight against terrorism, and that includes presenting U.S. concerns about how much success Pakistan is having, she said.

In an interview with CNN, Clinton said it's time to "clear the air" with a key U.S. ally. She added, "I don't think the way you deal with negative feelings is to pretend they're not there."

"I think it's important, if we are going to have the kind of cooperative partnership, that I think is in the best interest of both of our countries, for me to express some of the questions that are on the minds of the American people," Clinton told CNN's Jill Dougherty.

The secretary's comments came a day after she seemed to question the commitment of some in the Pakistani government for going after the leaders of al Qaeda, who U.S. intelligence experts believe are taking refuge in Pakistan's remote tribal areas.

"Al Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002," she told a group of Pakistani journalists Thursday. "I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to." She added, "Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."

>>>http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/30/clinton.pakistan/index.html

About time somebody tells Pakistan to get with the program. Good for Hillary.

I wonder if anyone has a real handle on how deeply infiltrated the aq/taliban are in government circles. It would appear that there was official knowledge and support for the Mumbai attack, what else can we expect?

ISI has been caught a few times training Terrorist. A good simple is the training the Taliban has got over the years. Also the influx of knowing where to hit and when to hit. Another good point is the attack on dick Cheney when he was in afghan. Weird how they attack the base That the Ex Vp was at. Even though no one told anyone.

.....a couple of well placed tactical's would open them up nicely....

I knew she was candid and open ... but this caught me by surprise. Clinton told senior Pakistani newspaper editors in Lahore:

quote:

“The percentage of taxes on GDP (in Pakistan) is among the lowest in the world ... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan,” she said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2009%5C10%5C30%5Cstory_30-10-2009_pg1_1