US secretary of state Hillary Clinton landed in Lahore on the second day of a trip to Pakistan meant to support economic development and counter rising anti-American sentiment after the worst terrorist attack in two years overshadowed her arrival.
A car bombing of a crowded bazaar in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed at least 105 people, many of them women and children, hours after Ms Clinton touched down yesterday in the capital, Islamabad, less than 100 miles away.
The latest in a wave of bombings and assaults in Pakistan that have claimed about 270 lives this month, the blast dramatized the common threat faced by the two nations and the need to set aside differences and work together, Ms Clinton said.
"These extremists are committed to destroying" what is dear to Pakistanis and Americans, she said in a nationally televised news conference.
"This is our struggle as well," and the US will "stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistani people in your fight for peace and security. We will give you the help that you need."
Pakistan's military is engaged in a two-week-old offensive to rout the country's largest Taliban force from its base in South Waziristan, near the porous frontier with Afghanistan.
Militants have described the wave of attacks on crowded cities and military targets as retaliation for the army's assault.
Pakistan's "resolve and determination" to fight terrorism "will not be shaken" by the latest attack, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in emotional remarks at the news conference with Ms Clinton.
"We will not buckle," because "we want stability and peace in Pakistan."
In meetings with tribal elders, students, journalists, civic leaders and government and army officials in Lahore and Islamabad today and tomorrow, Ms Clinton will seek to reassure Pakistanis of America's commitment to a broad-based relationship, and dispel the prevailing view that the US will abandon Pakistan and the region once its counterterrorism goals are achieved.
Bloomberg