Washington: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ruled out an apology over Salala air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, saying past expressions of regret and condolences were enough.
Panetta, in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, suggested that past expressions of regret and condolences were enough and held out hope that troubled talks on re-opening Pakistani supply routes for the NATO war effort could succeed anyway.
Asked whether he would oppose any further apology, Panetta said: “We’ve made clear what our position is, and I think it’s time to move on.”
“If we keep going back to the past, if we keep beating up each other based on past differences, we’ll never get anywhere,” he said.
“The time now is to move forward with this relationship, on the (supply routes), on the safe havens, on dealing with terrorism — on dealing with the issues that frankly both of us are concerned about,” Panetta said.
Commenting on relation with Pakistan he said: “It’s a complicated and frustrating relationship. But it’s a necessary relationship and one that we’ve got to continue to work at on both sides.”
At the same time, Panetta acknowledged pressures building in Congress to put conditions on aid to Pakistan.
“It’s not something that we’re pushing in the Congress. But the reality is that the more problems we have, the more difficult it’s going to be in the Congress to continue to provide assistance without conditions,” Panetta said.
He also acknowledged the likelihood that a protracted cut-off of the supply routes, costing Americans millions of dollars a day, would ultimately impact aid to Pakistan as well.
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