Clinton: We’re ‘Not Getting Through’ to Pakistanis

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced the unenviable task of trying to change U.S.-Pakistani relations for the better during her three-day diplomacy spree in the South Asian nation. However, it was unclear as her visit drew to a close whether she’d made any headway, as she herself acknowledged on Friday. –KA

AP via The Miami Herald:

Clinton put her case directly to the public Friday in televised appearances in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, fielding angry questions about the alleged activities of U.S. contractor Blackwater in Pakistan, the tough conditions that came with a $1.5 billion-a-year American aid package and alleged U.S. favoritism toward Pakistan’s archenemy, India.

One tribesman bluntly told her: “Your presence in the region is not good for peace.”

“We are fighting a war that is imposed on us. It’s not our war. It is your war,” journalist Asma Shirazi told Clinton during the women’s meeting. “You had one 9-11. We are having daily 9-11s in Pakistan.”

Clinton later told CNN that she was well aware of the “pretty negative situation” in Pakistan before she got here. “I wanted to have these interactions. … I don’t think the way you deal with negative feelings is to pretend they’re not there … or just come with happy talk.”

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Watch Clinton describe the U.S. position in Pakistan in Lahore on Friday in this AP clip: