HILLARY Clinton's statement on the Mehran attack deserves to be noted. Addressing a press conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in London on Monday, the American secretary of state seemed to show an understanding of Pakistan's burgeoning problems when she said Islamabad had hard choices to make. She spoke both of Pakistan's economic problems and the “threat it faces from internal violence”. She acknowledged that the arrest of many wanted terrorists would not have been possible without Islamabad's cooperation. Even though Ms Clinton was speaking in the aftermath of Sunday's devastating attack on PNS Mehran, her views cannot be de-linked from the larger picture of US-Pakistan relations after the raid to take out Osama bin Laden. The shock in Pakistan over the solo American action, the embarrassment caused to our security forces, which were caught napping, and repeated American vows that Washington would continue to mount more such raids have caused strained relations. Yet, notwithstanding the overreaction from legislators and media on both sides, Islamabad and Washington have managed not to allow the crisis to spin out of control and have vowed to work together.

From the American point of view, the “hard choices” Ms Clinton spoke of relate to the 'do more' refrain that has been a consistent feature of America's diplomatic rhetoric while dealing with Pakistan since the Bush days. In specific terms, this means cracking down on terrorist sanctuaries, especially those believed to be in North Waziristan, which the US believes have not received enough attention from Pakistan's security forces. Islamabad has its own set of complaints, which include Washington's inability, if not refusal, to understand Pakistan's problems, because its military resources are overstretched, and it cannot undertake more Swat-like operations without endangering its wider security concerns which have both internal and external dimensions. More importantly, religious extremism is a philosophy which cannot be combated by military means alone.

Nevertheless, the PNS Mehran shame and the Shabqadar suicide attack on FC recruits show that the war on terror is Pakistan's own war which it cannot afford to abandon. However, for the world community to help Pakistan in this endeavour, Islamabad has to set its own house in order. The dual shame of the May 2 raid and the Mehran disaster has exposed loopholes in Pakistan' security apparatus and served to highlight the gross inadequacy of our intelligence system to both foreigners and those at home. The chaos in the domestic scene and the absence of strong democratic institutions cancel out international sympathy for us and reinforce scepticism in our ability to use aid for the right purpose.