ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan has agreed to return the tail of the U.S. military helicopter that malfunctioned during the Osama bin Laden raid, Sen. John Kerry said Monday, part of a “specific series of steps” aimed at reducing suspicion between Islamabad and Washington.
Kerry, D-Mass., came here to discuss the killing of bin Laden with top Pakistani leaders, in meetings that could influence whether the United States continues to provide billions in aid to an ally that many in Washington believe harbors Islamists.
In the wake of the raid, the two nations’ relationship hovers at one of its worst-ever points. Some members of Congress, outraged that bin Laden found refuge for years in a Pakistan city known for its military academy and bases, are calling for the severing aid to Pakistan. Pakistani officials, meanwhile, are furious that the U.S. did not tell them in advance of the bin Laden operation and are facing an angry domestic backlash at the unilateral U.S. action on Pakistan soil.
Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the most senior U.S. official to visit Pakistan since bin Laden’s death, told reporters in the Pakistani capital Monday: “This road ahead will not be defined by words. It will be defined by actions.”
“My goal in coming here was not to apologize for what I consider to be a triumph against terrorism of unprecedented consequences,” Kerry said of raid on bin Laden’s compound. But, he added, “isolated episodes, no matter how profound, don’t jeopardize the larger relationship.”
Kerry said that in meetings with top civilian and military leaders, the U.S. and Pakistan had “agreed on a specific series of steps that will be implemented in order to get the relationship on track.”
The first step in that “roadmap,” as he described it, is that the the tail of the downed helicopter used in the raid will be returned to U.S. custody. The copter experienced mechanical difficulties when landing at bin Laden’s compound. Navy SEALs destroyed part of it before leaving, in an effort to keep the latest U.S. military technology a secret.
Kerry did not outline the other steps to which officials had agreed.
