Pakistan and the United States on Monday sought to smooth a damaging row caused by Osama bin Laden's killing, calling for closer cooperation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton poised to visit.

 Pakistan's civilian and military leaders were left angry and embarrassed over a unilateral US raid on May 2 that discovered and killed Al-Qaeda's chief living, possibly for years, two hours' drive from the Pakistani capital.

 The raid rocked the country's seemingly powerful security establishment, with its intelligence services and military widely accused of incompetence or complicity over the presence of Osama in a suburban house in the city of Abbottabad.

 

US Senator John Kerry (L) meets Pakistan's PM Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad. (AFP Photo/Aamir Qureshi)

 Pakistan's parliament demanded that the operation not be repeated, but US President Barack Obama has said his country reserved the right to act again.

 Islamabad has also insisted US drone strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders on its territory must end. The military threatened to review intelligence ties in the war on Al-Qaeda and Islamabad called the raid "unauthorised unilateral action".

 Demanding progress by "actions not by words" and emphasising that US lawmakers were demanding a review of billions in aid money to Pakistan, Senator John Kerry delivered a tough message cloaked in diplomatic speak to Islamabad.

"Ultimately, the Pakistani people will decide what kind of country Pakistan becomes, whether it is a haven for extremists or the tolerant democracy that (Pakistani founder) Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisioned 64 years ago," he said.

In a televised address, Kerry said he had Obama's backing "to find a way to rebuild the trust" after previously warning of "profound" consequences if the allies cannot fix their fractured ties.

"Many in Congress are raising tough questions about our ongoing economic assistance to the government of Pakistan because of the events as they unfolded, because of the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan," he said.

 Kerry reiterated "grave concerns" over the presence in Pakistan of Osama and sanctuaries of US enemies in Afghanistan, calling for "realistic expectations" about ties between two countries with real differences.

 Nevertheless he emphasised: "We are strategic partners with a common enemy in terrorism and extremism. Both of our countries have sacrificed... so much that it just wouldn't make sense to see this relationship broken or abandoned."

The United States depends on Pakistani logistical and military support to fight the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Cash-strapped Pakistan has relied in turn on $18 billion from the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks, when Pakistan officially ended support for Afghanistan's Taliban and agreed to work with Washington.

In 2009, Congress also authorised $7.5 billion to help bolster the weak civilian government by building schools, roads and democratic institutions.

Kerry said Pakistan had "recommitted to find more ways to work against the common threat of terrorism" and to increase cooperation on intelligence sharing and operations to "defeat the enemies that we face".

 He said two senior US government officials will arrive in Islamabad this week to work on the details of implementing "these initial steps," and that Clinton "will soon announce plans to visit Pakistan to develop new trust."

 The US State Department said Clinton would visit for "strategic talks" but that no date had been set. Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that in the last 24 hours Clinton had spoken with Pakistan's president, premier and army chief.

 In one tangible, concrete achievement, Kerry said Pakistan would return on Tuesday the tail of a helicopter. Navy SEALs destroyed the chopper during the operation that got Osama after a hard landing.

 Pakistan, which has lost thousands of soldiers and civilians in the fight against home-grown Taliban and to Al-Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks, said the allies would work together on future high-value targets in Pakistan.

 Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani joined forces with Kerry to say that the two countries now needed to rebuild trust.

 "It was the need of the hour that Pakistan and US should rebuild the trust and confidence between their governments and institutions," his office said in a statement released after his talks with Kerry.

 Despite Islamabad's threats to try to end US drone strikes on its soil, there have been six since bin Laden's death, with two strikes on Monday evening killing nine people, according to security officials in the tribal belt.

 There have been heightened security fears in Pakistan since the Osama operation and the killing of a Saudi diplomat in a hail of gunfire on Monday was the second attack on Saudi interests in Karachi in less than a week.

 Last Wednesday, drive-by assailants threw two grenades at the consulate in Karachi in what officials said could have been a reaction to Saudi-born Osama's death.

 

- AFP/al/de