Meeting With Staff and Families of Embassy Islamabad
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Islamabad, Pakistan
October 21, 2011
Thank
you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. And it truly is a pleasure to be
back here at Embassy Islamabad again. And I want to thank everyone,
certainly Cameron and Marilyn for making me feel so welcome, being my
hosts for the evening. And I want to thank also the deputy chief of
mission as well.
There’s a lot of incredible energy at this
mission, and that is in part due to your understanding and commitment,
American and Pakistani alike, to the importance of this relationship.
You understand you are working at the epicenter of American foreign
policy, that you have important jobs to do, and that what you do has
deep and wide-ranging consequences.
Now, I know that these past
weeks have been especially challenging. Our two countries have hard work
ahead of us to improve this relationship. But on behalf of President
Obama and myself and our government, we are committed to making that
happen.
I had excellent meetings with the leadership of Pakistan
as well as civil society and media representatives, and I think there is
a joint commitment to try to work through the difficulties that we have
encountered. And we have to because we have critical shared priorities.
This is not a question of “it would be nice, wouldn’t it?” This is
clearly an imperative, that we face a wide range of difficulties, but
also opportunities, together. Advancing the Afghan peace process; taking
on the remnants of al-Qaida, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, those
require Pakistan’s active cooperation, and I think we had a very good
set of discussions about what kind of work we need to be doing together.
We
also have to continue the other essential work that you are doing, from
providing flood relief to rebuilding bridges to making electricity
accessible to distributing wheat and vegetable seeds and helping half a
million farming families get back on their feet. Moving toward a stable
self-sufficient Pakistan, governed by democratic and civilian-led
institutions able to provide jobs and opportunities for the Pakistani
people, is our shared goal. So I can’t thank you enough. And I extend
that appreciation to the entire American team here, civilian and
military, representatives not only of State and USAID but the
multiplicity of agencies represented here.
And certainly, I want
to say a special word of thanks to our Pakistani colleagues. I know that
sometimes you and your families come under intense pressure because you
work with us. I know that terror attacks have destabilized your
communities and claimed thousands of innocent lives. And some of you
have even been harassed simply because you work at our Embassy or our
consulate. But I want you to know how grateful we are, and I also want
you to know that we truly believe that you are in the forefront of
forging a relationship between not only our two countries but our two
peoples that is very much in the interests of both.
