Meanwhile, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani concluded his consultations with senior American military commanders in Florida on Monday morning and went straight to the Pentagon for talks with US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates.

General Kayani will also attend the opening ceremony of the talks between Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the State Department on Wednesday.

“What we are interested in is looking at the long-term in the relationship between the US and Pakistan,” Mr Gates told journalists before his meeting with Gen Kayani.

“How we can strengthen our relationship and how we can help Pakistan in dealing with the security challenges that face them but also face us and Nato as well.”

Mr Gates said that the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue, which begins on Wednesday, will enable the two sides to talk about the full range of their relationship.

In a message on the Pakistan Day, Secretary Clinton noted that the broad partnership between the US and Pakistan was based on “mutual respect and mutual interest” and the first ministerial-level strategic dialogue in Washington would be an “opportunity to forge even closer ties between our nations”.

The US, she said, was already supporting Pakistan's efforts to strengthen “democratic institutions, foster economic development, expand opportunity, and defeat the extremist groups who threaten Pakistan, the region, and even our own country.

Also on Monday, Foreign Minister Qureshi, who heads the Pakistani delegation to the dialogue, met US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.

The two reviewed the agenda for the dialogue and noted that both sides had a strong desire to further strengthen their relationship.

But The New York Times reported on Monday that a strong military presence in the talks indicated that Gen Kayani “will be the dominant Pakistani participant in important meetings in Washington this week”.

The US media also reported that just 48 hours before the dialogue, the Pakistani government filed a petition in a High Court seeking to investigate Dr A. Q. Khan over recent reports about his ties to Iran's nuclear programme.

The move follows indications from Washington that it is open to discussions with Pakistan on the nuclear energy front at the strategic dialogue.

Quoting recent statements by senior US officials, the media reported that the talks were expected to help define the relationship between the United States and Pakistan as the war against the Taliban reached its endgame phase in Afghanistan.