Washington, Dec 1 (ANI): The White House has said that US President Barack Obama will not formally apologise to Pakistan, at least for now, for the killings of 28 soldiers in the recent NATO attack.
On Monday, American Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter had insisted that President Obama should release a formal video statement to diffuse the rising outrage and disappointment among Pakistanis over the issue.
However, the US has maintained that expressions of remorse offered by senior department officials and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were enough, at least until the completion of a US military investigation into the root cause of the attack, The New York Times reports.
Some administration aides also worried that if President Obama apologized, his Republican opponents would get a strong chance to pull down next year's president during the presidential campaign.
White House officials have said President Obama was unlikely to say anything further on the matter in the coming days.
"The U.S. government has offered its deepest condolences for the loss of life, from the White House and from Secretary Clinton and Secretary Panetta, and we are conducting an investigation into the incident. We cannot offer additional comment on the circumstances of the incident until we have the results," Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, referring to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, said.
Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, insisted making the bi-lateral relation strong is the need of the hour.
"We all appreciate how deeply this tragedy has affected the Pakistani people, and we have conveyed our heartfelt condolences through multiple channels," Kerry said, adding: "Ultimately, the only way to move the ball forward is to focus on areas where our interests align and where we can really make progress. Our two countries need each other."
Amid such situation, it is clear that both the sides are not ready to bow down.
Pakistan is adamant that it would not attend the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan in protest against the NATO attack. It has set an ultimatum for Washington to leave the Shamsi Air Base by November 15. (ANI)
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