Relations with US improving: Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday that relations with estranged ally Washington were getting back on track and called for joint regional peace efforts after Afghanistan and India signed a strategic pact.

"Relations between Pakistan and United States often experience ups and downs but these relations are now coming back towards right direction," Prime Minister Gilani told reporters in the capital Islamabad.

Asked about Pakistan's feelings on the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance, Gilani said: "Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to.

"We all are in the same region and we want to work together for peace and prosperity in the region and I think we should work together."

Karzai, who is currently on a visit to India, has tried to reassure "brother" Pakistan about the alliance with its historic foe.

Indian involvement in Afghanistan is extremely sensitive because of the delicate and often deadly power games in South Asia, with Pakistan vehemently opposed to its arch enemy meddling in what it considers its backyard.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011