“DAYS and weeks, not months and years,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Islamabad on Friday. She was referring to the time frame within which America wants to make progress with Pakistan on a range of regional security issues, from Afghanistan's reconciliation process and confronting the Haqqani network to solving the problem of improvised explosive devices on both sides of the border. Her words brought a new urgency to the need for sorting out US-Pakistan relations. But even when combined with her blunt remarks in Kabul earlier about the need for Pakistan to go after militant safe havens here, her visit can hardly be interpreted, as some sections of the media had done before her arrival, as the delivery of a final warning that Pakistan must cooperate, or else.

In fact, Ms Clinton lowered the temperature and undertook useful public diplomacy by addressing at least three issues that have become the source of much concern in Pakistan: she said unequivocally that there would be no American boots on the ground in Pakistan in reply to questions about whether the US will launch unilateral strikes if action is not taken against the Haqqani network. She stated that America has no evidence of the involvement of Pakistani intelligence in the attack on the US embassy in Kabul. And even as she reiterated the need for Pakistan to pursue the Afghan Taliban, Ms Clinton said action would be taken against Pakistani Taliban who have found refuge on the Afghan side of the border.

Ms Clinton also opened up a potential way forward on the Haqqani issue. She was honest when asked about reports of a recent American meeting, arranged by Pakistani intelligence, with a Haqqani representative this summer. She was also frank about America's openness to negotiating with the Haqqani network even while combating it militarily, and said that Pakistan should play a role in the former effort, not just the latter. This creates some common ground with the All-Party Conference resolution that emphasises dialogue with militants, could be a useful way to leverage Pakistan's contacts, and might make it easier for Pakistan to cooperate with efforts to neutralise the Haqqani network. And in remarks at her joint press conference with the Pakistani foreign minister, the focus was on putting these plans into action. Both chief diplomats repeatedly stressed the need to “operationalise” plans for regional security, especially reconciliation, and Ms Khar talked about moving from strategic to “operational convergence”. If the public diplomacy on this trip was anything to go by, then, a path may have been opened up for concrete joint steps forward.