Clinton charm offensive runs into suspicions in Pakistan

By Andrew Quinn

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Pakistan charm offensive rolled into a wall of suspicion at one of the country's top universities on Thursday as students drilled her on whether America was truly ready to be a steadfast partner in a time of crisis.

Clinton, on the second day of a three-day visit aimed at turning around a U.S.-Pakistan relationship under serious strain, was presented with stark evidence of the "trust deficit" that yawns between the two countries, now bound together in the struggle against religious extremism.

"What guarantee can the Americans give Pakistanis that we can now trust you ... and that you guys are not going to be betraying us like you did in the past," one student asked at a "townhall-style" meeting Clinton held at the Government College University in Lahore.

Clinton, who has sought to use her own personal outreach to overcome rising anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, repeated her conviction that the two countries' common interests far outweighed their differences.

"I am well aware that there is a trust deficit," Clinton said. "My message is that's not the way it should be. We cannot let a minority of people in both countries determine our relationship."

Clinton's arrival in Pakistan on Wednesday was overshadowed by a huge car bomb blast that ripped through a market in the city of Peshawar, one of the largest recent attacks by Islamic militants seeking to destabilise the nuclear-armed country.

Clinton urged Pakistan's youth to stand firm against the forces of religious extremism, saying it threatened everything that both Americans and Pakistanis hold dear.

She carried the same message in her meetings with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and other high officials in Islamabad on Wednesday.