Cooperative, trusting relationship with Pakistan: Panetta

WASHINGTON: The United States should build a "cooperative and trusting" relationship with Pakistan, where both countries pursue the goal to eliminate terrorism as their major effort, Defence Secretary Leo Panetta said.

"What we've got to do is build a trusting relationship where we both understand that our major effort has to be to end terrorism, period," he said.

Panetta described US-Pakistan relationship as complicated but opposed disengagement from Pakistan-Afghanistan region.

Panetta's remarks in a CNN interview sounded a soft tone in contrast with last month's rhetoric emanating from Washington, which appeared to threaten the bilateral ties over the Afghan Haqqani militant group's hideouts on the Pakistani side.

The defence secretary said Washington has asked Pakistan to make sure there is no safe haven for the Afghan militants on its soil but contrastingly with retired Admiral Mike Mullen's sweeping assertion on Pakistani links with the Haqqanis, he refused to characterize it as institutional support for militants.

Haqqanis have a safe haven in Pakistan. These are individuals who cross over, into Afghanistan

And then they return back to Pakistan to that safe haven," claimed Panetta, who served as CIA Director before becoming secretary of defence.

"What we've urged the Pakistanis to do is to take action, to make sure that that safe haven does not exist. That's the message we've given to them." Continuing, Panetta observed.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011