US will strive to secure relations with Pakistan

As Pakistani inhabitant and military leaders arrive here this week for high-level meetings, the Obama administration will start trying to mend a relationship badly damaged by the American military's tough new stance in the region.

Among the sweeteners on the table will be a multiyear security pact with Pakistan, complete with more reliable military aid -- something the Pakistani military has long sought to complement the five-year, $7.5 billion package of non-military aid approved by Congress last year. The administration will also discuss how to channel money to help Pakistan rebuild after its ruinous flood.

But the American gestures come at a time of fraying patience on the part of the Obama administration, and they will carry a familiar warning, a senior American official said: if Pakistan does not intensify its efforts to crack down on militants hiding out in the tribal areas of North Waziristan, or if another terrorist plot against the United States were to emanate from Pakistani soil, the administration would find it hard to persuade Congress or the American public to keep supporting the country.

Other potentially discordant topics are likely to come up, too, including NATO's role in reconciliation talks between President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and the Taliban. Pakistani officials say they are nervous about being left out of any political settlement involving the Taliban.