Madeleine Albright visits Pakistan

Madeleine Albright visits Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters): Anti-terrorist measures will be high on
the agenda when U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
arrives in Pakistan today, two days after the bodies of four
American oilmen killed in an ambush were flown home.

Albright, the first secretary of state to visit here since
1983, will bring renewed American focus to a country suffering
poverty at home, war in Afghanistan and conflict with India over
the disputed province of Kashmir.

She had been expected in the Pakistan capital last night but
U.S. officials said she would not now arrive until this afternoon
as she had rescheduled her itinerary to include several Gulf
capitals linked to the crisis over Iraq.

Tight security is expected when Albright lands in Islamabad,
just days after her department warned Americans of possible
revenge attacks for the death sentence passed on a Pakistani
convicted of killing two CIA employees.

Pakistani officials have played down speculation linking an
attack in Karachi last Wednesday, in which four Union Texas
Petroleum employees died, to the conviction of Mir Aimal Kasi for
the murder of two Central Intelligence Agency staff in 1993.

But they said the attack, the first on foreign staff of a U.S.
multinational here, was a botched attempt to wreck Albright's
visit and one by President Bill Clinton which is penciled in for
early next year.

Pakistani officials declined to discuss specific security
arrangements. "You cannot expect me to give you the details of
those precautions," Tariq Altaf, Foreign Ministry spokesman, told
a news conference.

"But we have taken all precautions within our powers and I
believe the American side are satisfied with those," he said.
Officials at the U.S. embassy in Islamabad said cooperation
between Washington and Islamabad on anti-terrorism would figure
in talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Minister
Gohur Ayan Khan.

U.S. officials said in Washington last Friday that Albright
was expected to make a major push during her meeting with Khan
and Sharif to encourage peace efforts in neighboring Afghanistan
where the Taleban militia is fighting an opposition alliance.

The Taleban control two thirds of Afghanistan but are
recognized as the government in Kabul only by Pakistan, the
United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
"The discussions will focus on the entire range of bilateral
matters as well as regional and global issues of mutual interest,
particularly Kashmir and Afghanistan," Altaf said.

Two of three wars fought by Pakistan and India have been over
the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and both are considered
capable of making nuclear bombs.

U.S. embassy officials said nuclear non-proliferation was an
important aspect of United States policy in the region and
Albright was expected to discuss it with Pakistani leaders.

Pakistani officials say Albright is expected to sign three
accords on bilateral cooperation and pave the way for a Clinton
visit to Pakistan in early 1998.

But the timing of her arrival in Pakistan is also marked by a
new crisis facing Sharif's nine-month old government on the
domestic front.

Today, Sharif will become the first serving Pakistani prime
minister to appear in the Supreme Court in a contempt of court
proceeding against him and 11 others.