Washington has reportedly offered Pakistan an enhanced strategic partnership, including additional cooperation in military and economic fields.
The Washington Post reported Monday that US President Barack Obama, in a two-page letter to Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari, offered expanded ties in a bid to ease tension between Islamabad and Washington.
Obama’s letter, delivered to the Pakistani leader via US National Security Adviser James Jones, came as uneasiness develops in Pakistan over the US troop surge in Afghanistan.
Islamabad maintains that the move will drive militants out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan.
According to the Post officials in the Obama Administration do not view victory in Afghanistan possible without achieving a similar status in Pakistan.
“We can’t succeed without Pakistan,” the paper quotes a senior administration official as saying.
“You have to differentiate between public statements and reality. There is nobody who is under any illusions about this,” said the official, who was not named by the paper.
Some analysts, however, are in the opinion that Washington is merely trying to find a pretext to further extend its stay in the region and create a foothold in Pakistan.
On Tuesday the US president is expected to spell out his new Afghan strategy with a focus on Pakistan. In his address, Obama is expected announce the deployment of up 35,000 more US troops in Afghanistan.
