The United States pledged Friday to help Pakistan develop democracy after a report said the country could have prevented the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The United States, which had encouraged Benazir's decision to return to Pakistan to resolve political turmoil, "co-operated fully" with the UN probe, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "The assassination was a tragedy for the people of Pakistan," Crowley told reporters.

"Benazir Bhutto gave her life in defence of the development of Pakistan's democratic institutions." "We will continue to work with Pakistan to make sure that we build the institutions of democracy going forward," Crowley said. Crowley declined to comment on the particulars of the report, but said: "Tragically there were failures at a number of levels where she did not have the protection that she deserved and obviously needed."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010