FM Hina Rabbani Khar, Hilary Clinton meet in London

LONDON: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar met US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman was also present during this meeting.

The meetings lasted for over forty-five minutes and was held in a cordial atmosphere.

Reuters Adds: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar that the United States fully respected the Pakistani parliament's need to review relations carefully but also stressed the need to resume joint work.

Clinton told Khar that "we had to get ready to get back into business with Pakistan and that that was particularly important (on) areas such as counter-terrorism, working together on some of the regional questions, very much to include Afghanistan," said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The foreign minister was very welcoming of that," the US official added as he briefed on the ministers' meeting in London.

The United States sees Pakistan as critical to its efforts to wind down the war in neighboring Afghanistan, where US-led NATO forces are battling a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

In particular, it wants Pakistani cooperation in tackling the Haqqani network, the Afghan insurgent group now seen as the gravest threat to NATO and Afghan troops.

Before the London talks, Khar urged Washington Tuesday to establish a "predictable, transparent and sustainable" relationship with Pakistan, adding that parliament was currently looking at "terms of re-engagement" with the United States.

Clinton raised the possibility of a series of US officials going to Pakistan once the review is complete to discuss, among other things, what kind of aid the United States may continue to give the Pakistani government, the US official said.