By IANS,
Islamabad : US Ambassador Cameron Munter met President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed Pakistan-US bilateral relations that have been considerably strained following Saturday’s NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
They met at Aiwan-e-Sadr (presidential residence) Tuesday, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.
This year has seen a significant deterioration in the US-Pakistan ties. In February, Raymond Davis, an undercover CIA agent, was arrested in Lahore for shooting two Pakistani nationals. Then Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed May 2 by US commandos who swooped on his Abbottabad hideout without informing the Pakistani military.
Earlier this month, a secret memo to Washington said that President Asif Ali Zardari had feared a military coup, leading to Husain Haqqani stepping down as Pakistan’s envoy in Washington. Former minister Sherry Rehman was quickly appointed the new envoy to the US.
Even before the dust could settle down on all these controversies, the major NATO attack on two Pakistani checkposts worsened the ties. As many as 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 15 injured when NATO helicopters from Afghanistan attacked border checkposts Nov 26 in Mohmand agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).