Washington: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Pakistan has in the past hedged against both India and an unfriendly regime in Afghanistan by supporting terror groups, but "that is changing".
"Pakistan has a major responsibility and they need to be working with us as they are to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda," she said in an interview with ABC News, according to the transcript released by the defense department.
"I think in the last 20 months there has been a considerable change in their strategic calculation about what is in their own best interests."
Asked about "a strange, open, duplicitous, bizarre relationship" with Pakistan where the Obama administration was asking the Congress for $2 billion for the Pakistanis, while they were supporting Al Qaeda, Clinton acknowledged Islamabad's "past" behaviour against India and Afghanistan.
"Well, they have in the past hedged against both India and an unfriendly regime in Afghanistan by supporting groups that will be their proxies in trying to prevent either India or an unfriendly Afghan government from undermining their position," she said.
"That is changing. Now, I cannot sit here and tell you that it has changed, but that is changing."
Asked if Pakistan doesn't change would she recommend not getting the $2 billion for it next year, Clinton said: "What we have done is, through intensive consultations with both the civilian, the military, and intelligence leadership in Pakistan, had very frank conversations about what we expect."
Appearing with her on the same show, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates suggested as the Pakistanis "have made these adjustments in their own assessment of their national interests, they're paying a big price for it".
"And it's not an easy calculation for them to make. But we are making progress. We have a long way to go and we have to - we can't be impatient."
Pakistanis have "withdrawn an equivalent of about six divisions from the Indian border and moved them," Gates said. "And they are attacking the Taliban" - the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, and also attacking groups "and safe havens that are a problem for us."
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