Long term partnership important for Pak-US talks

The United States Special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman held talks with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir. In the meeting the issue of drone attacks including the Pakistani economy and other issues of mutual interest were discussed.Salman Bashir said that after exchanging views on the US drone Attacks on Pakistani soil, the situation was much clearer. He said that the drone attacks were harming rather than benefiting the situation. He added that that efforts were being made to restore links between the two countries.Bashir said that the hold on Afghan policy should be in the hands of the Afghanistan government and said that Pakistan could only facilitate matters pertaining to the Afghan policy. Marc Grossman said that long term, strategic partnership was very important for Pakistan and the United States. He said that the war against the insurgency aims to improve Pakistans economy and to protect its citizens.Later, in a joint press conference with Marc Grossman, Salman Bashir said that it is not necessary that Pakistan the United States see eye to eye on every issue. There is a possibility of difference because the US has a global perspective and Pakistan has regional perspective. Grossman said that evaluation of their measures should be taken in a few weeks. He said that in the last meeting with the Foreign Secretary, views were exchanged on the Pak-US strategic dialogue. He said that out of the 13 strategic groups devised by both the countries, 9-10 groups would have already met by June 2011.