"We want to move together to help Pakistan be safe and have economic opportunities and we want to move together to make Pakistan a success as a democratic society," Boucher said.
THERE WERE MILITANTS IN TRIBAL AREAS PLANNING ATTACKS ON PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, EUROPE, THE US AND ELSEWHERE: He made his comments at a joint news conference with Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose party leads the new coalition government.
"So, as the government lays out its plan, in that regard, we will look for the proper ways to support," he said. A body of opinion was forming in the United States that Pakistan should get more assistance, he said.
A source close to the new government said the US military has problems adjusting to dealing with institutional mechanisms that new leaders want to put in place governing the scope of cooperation.
US assistance to Pakistan since it joined Washington's war on terrorism in 2001 totalled over $10 billion, most of it for the military. Another $750 million has been earmarked for security and social sector projects in the tribal areas.
Boucher said the United States understood and was ready to support a broad-based, multi-faceted programme to counter the problem of terrorism and extremism in Pakistan. Zardari said it was "Pakistan's war as much as anybody's else's".