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“National security of the US will be better served with a positive relationship with Pakistan,” Senator Dianne Feinstein told a Senate hearing on budget priorities for 2013.
The Senator, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, observed that both sides made mistakes in handling the Nov 26 incident, which caused the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a US air raid.
After the raid, Pakistan closed ground supply lines for US and Nato forces in Afghanistan and is still refusing to reopen them.
Senator Feinstein noted that the dispute over the supply lines could be solved “with some civilian acceptance of the mistakes” the US had made.
Such an acceptance could also lead to the reopening of Nato supply lines, she said, adding that “it would do well to apologise” for the mistakes made.
“We appreciate Senator Feinstein for showing the way forward in normalising ties in a relationship that is important to both sides and critical for stabilising the region,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador Sherry Rehman while welcoming the gesture.
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At the State Department, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the United States had stayed engaged with Pakistan despite an earlier decision to recall its negotiators from Islamabad.
The conciliatory statements follow an unprecedented decline in bilateral relations last week when Pakistan’s army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani refused to meet a senior US officials. In retaliation, the Americans recalled their team.
The Los Angles Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that before the recall, the United States and Pakistan were “putting the final touches” on a deal for reopening the routes.
“Pakistan had backed away from its demand for a sharp increase in transit fees as a condition for reopening the routes.
There were also signs that Pakistan was open to something short of a high-level public apology,” the report said.
“But Mr Panetta’s comments in Kabul … and his talks on defence cooperation in India … have thrown that progress into doubt.”
The State Department, however, did not agree with this description as spokesperson Nuland told journalists that the two sides had already concluded technical discussions before Americans negotiators returned home.
“We are continuing to stay engaged with the Pakistani side,” she said.
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