WASHINGTON, July 16: US lawmakers have pointed out that successive US governments have failed to evolve a comprehensive, long-term policy for Pakistan despite its vital importance to US national interests.

There were a few places in the world more vitally important to the national interest of the United States than Pakistan, said Senator Joseph Biden, a ranking member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. And few places where our policy was in more desperate need of a serious, long-term policy, he told a recent Senate hearing.

Pakistan was a key ally of the United States in the global war on terrorism, agreed the committee's chairman, Senator Richard Lugar, adding that the US administration needed to ensure that ordinary people were also involved in the effort to bring stability to the country.

Pakistan's efforts against terrorists within its borders, its stewardship of its own nuclear arsenal, and its relations with other nations in the region were critical to global security, said Senator Lugar.

He said the US government's decision to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in assistance over five years was a measure of Pakistan's importance to our national security objectives.

Senator Biden disagreed. "Do we have a (coherent, long-term) strategy in place? If we do, I'm hard-pressed to figure out what it is," he said while warning that the United States cannot go on much longer without a plan.

The stakes are far too high for Pakistan, for the rest of the South Asia, and for the United States itself, he said. The senator then pointed out the areas where he thought Pakistan needed to do more to prove to be an effective partner in the war against terrorism.