US senators reaffirm anti-terror support to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Two influential US senators have reaffirmed the US commitment to working with Pakistan to fight terrorism and support a stable and secure Afghanistan, the US embassy in Islamabad said on Tuesday.

Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin, and Jack Reed, a member of Senate Armed Services Committee, met with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, and Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said the US embassy in a statement. ?

The senators, who wrapped up their two-day visit on Tuesday, also held consultations with US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson and members of his team. "The Senators' visit builds upon a series of recent high-level engagements between the US and Pakistan that seek to identify shared interests and act on them jointly," the statement said.

The visit came at a time when the US increased drone strikes in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of Waziristan, known as a main irritant in the bilateral relationship.

Two drone strikes on suspected militant hideout early Tuesday killed at least eight people in North Waziristan area.

During their visit, the senators reiterated the US commitment to increasing economic opportunity, and strengthening democracy, according to the statement. ?

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who received the U. S. senators on Monday, expressed the hope that the relations between the two countries will be further strengthened in the interest of the region and the world.

Ashraf said that Pakistan valued relations with the United States which is its most important economic partner.