In this photo released by Pakistan Press Information department, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, third from left meets with US Senator John Kerry, second from left and US ambassador in Pakistan Cameron Munter, left, at President House in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, May 16, 2011.
WASHINGTON: The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says the US-Pakistan relationship is at a critical juncture and both countries need to get it right.
Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat, spoke Tuesday after returning from a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said the United States has vital national security interests in the region.
The discovery of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan angered American lawmakers who have suggested cutting American aid to Islamabad.
Kerry says the US has to get the policy right with Pakistan in the aftermath of the raid May 2 in which US commandos apprehended and killed bin Laden on an estate near a Pakistani military training academy.
On Afghanistan, Kerry says he sees no purely military solution but he is optimistic about the overall outlook.