Pakistain and the US are repairing ties which had plunged to an all-time low, Pak Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Friday, despite violent anti-American protests rocking her country."The last 18 months were very, very difficult," Khar said at the start of talks with US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as
America's Blond Eminenceand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Condoleezza Rice...
, adding the nations were doing "better than we could have expected to do in rebuilding the trust."
The two women leaders were meeting at the State Department as violent protests flared for another day across Pakistain, targeting American diplomatic missions, and fueled by anger at an anti-Islam film which Moslems say insults their faith.
As Pak police fought back with gunshots and tear gas in five major cities, 15 people were killed and more than 200 maimed.
Anger in Pakistain has spiked since the killing of al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who went shovel-ready...
in a secret US commando raid on his Pak compound in May 2011, and a US
The incidents saw relations plunge, as Islamabad closed border crossings into Afghanistan to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
convoys, forcing them to take a longer, more expensive route to supply their troops, until the blockade was lifted in July.
But Khar insisted that after efforts to renew the relationship over the past few months "we stand at a time of opportunity."
"At a time of opportunity to seize the trust deficit mantra and start building on the trust by walking the talk, that achieves the interests that are clearly common."
Clinton said their shared top priority was "pursuing our joint counter-terrorism objectives to ensure the security of American and Pakistain citizens alike."