Clinton tries to repair Pakistani ties

LONDON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her Pakistani counterpart Thursday the two countries had "to get back into business," a senior official said.

Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar were attending a meeting on Somalia in London, and spoke together in a side meeting.

The senior official, speaking under condition of anonymity, told reporters Clinton told Khar it was important "to keep the conversation between Pakistan and the United States going."

Pakistan's Parliament is debating the country's relationship with the United States. The relationship has deteriorated since U.S. SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May, without giving Pakistani authorities prior notification of the raid.

The senior official said Clinton told the foreign minister "we respect the Parliament's right to consider U.S.-Pakistan relations. We certainly respect the Parliament's right to take the time to do this in a sensible way, but ... that we had to get ready to get back into business with Pakistan. And that was particularly important in areas such as counter-terrorism, working together on some of the regional questions, very much to include Afghanistan."

The two women also discussed whether the special U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan "might go to Pakistan, talk a little bit about where we stood on reconciliation on Afghanistan. We'd like to talk to them about the importance of what kind of assistance that we continue to give," the official said.