(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 13, 2009: Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, officials said on Monday. 
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani (R) and Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry meet in Islamabad to resolve recent controversial pending issues.
The prime minister told Senator Kerry that Pakistan does not want the US to base its aid on conditions linked to the campaign against militancy, DawnNews reported.
Meanwhile, President Zardari urged Senator Kerry to expedite the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones’ legislation and work out a joint strategy to counter terrorism.
The Democrat introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives that would triple economic assistance for Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars a year.
A senior foreign ministry official told AFP in Islamabad that Pakistan expected the bill would be passed by Congress ‘by June this year.'
US President Barack Obama has put Pakistan at the centre of the fight against al Qaeda under a new strategy dispatching thousands more troops and spending billions of dollars to turn around the flagging Afghan war.
Obama last Thursday wrote to US lawmakers asking for an extra 83.4 billion dollars to pay for military efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Kerry's visit comes one week after the US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, and special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, held talks in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani (R) and Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry meet in Islamabad to resolve recent controversial pending issues.
The prime minister told Senator Kerry that Pakistan does not want the US to base its aid on conditions linked to the campaign against militancy, DawnNews reported.
Meanwhile, President Zardari urged Senator Kerry to expedite the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones’ legislation and work out a joint strategy to counter terrorism.
The Democrat introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives that would triple economic assistance for Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars a year.
A senior foreign ministry official told AFP in Islamabad that Pakistan expected the bill would be passed by Congress ‘by June this year.'
US President Barack Obama has put Pakistan at the centre of the fight against al Qaeda under a new strategy dispatching thousands more troops and spending billions of dollars to turn around the flagging Afghan war.
Obama last Thursday wrote to US lawmakers asking for an extra 83.4 billion dollars to pay for military efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Kerry's visit comes one week after the US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, and special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, held talks in Islamabad.
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