Relationship with Pakistan extremely important: US

America's relationship with Pakistan is extremely important to national security interest, the White House said today as Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Islamabad to hold talks with the new civilian leadership.
"Our relationship with Pakistan is extremely important to America's national security interests," White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters at his daily news conference.
"It is a complicated but important relationship," he added.
"I'm sure that Secretary Kerry will be having discussions with the Pakistanis about developments in their country, our joint efforts to fight terrorism -- and as you know, Pakistanis have been among the most significant victims of terrorist attacks -- and also our efforts in Afghanistan," he said.

Deputy State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said regional security, situation in Afghanistan are important issues that are expected to come up during his talks.
"I don't want to characterise it in any of those ways," she said when asked the kind of co-operation the US is receiving from the new Pakistan government on counter terrorism issues.

"He's looking forward to meeting in-person with the civilian government there. You know, he's been wanting to go for a while," she said.
"We have very good cooperation on counter-terrorism issues with the Pakistanis. But obviously, we'll continue to talk about issues of cross-border militancy and the reality that safe havens that threaten both Pakistan and Afghanistan and U

S interests and regional stability are operating in that area. So we're going to continue working with the Pakistanis on this issue going forward," she said in response to a question.
Coinciding with Kerry's visit to Islamabad, Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins is travelling to the region.