NEW YORK, Sept 24: The United States and Pakistan reviewed on Monday various options for bolstering their troubled relationship, including a plan for facilitating the Afghan reconciliation process.

This hour-long meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York followed similar talks in Washington earlier this week.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who also attended Monday’s meeting, spent four days in Washington, reviewing bilateral ties with Secretary Clinton and other US officials.

The talks led to the revival of key working groups associated with the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue and also to a new understanding on resolving the Afghan dispute.

After the Zardari-Clinton meeting in New York, the Pakistani delegation issued a press statement, saying that the two leaders “had an in-depth conversation on the way forward”.

They also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and “how Pakistan and the United States could cooperate in helping bring peace and stability in that country”, the statement said.

President Zardari assured Secretary Clinton that Pakistan was prepared to do everything in its power to help an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation process.

He noted that peace and stability in Pakistan were tied to peace and stability in Afghanistan. “No country has paid a higher price for the conflict in Afghanistan than Pakistan,” he said.

The president is visiting New York to attend the UN General Assembly session.

He held two rounds of talks with Secretary Clinton, including one-to-one session of half an hour.

Later, the foreign minister, Ambassador Sherry Rehman, Asfandyar Wali, Farooq Sattar and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar joined the president.

Deputy Secretary Tom Nides, Ambassador Marc Grossman, Deputy National Security Adviser Gen Douglas Lute, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland and other senior officials assisted Secretary Clinton.

The two delegations reviewed “recent positive developments in the relationship”, including the reopening of GLOCs, the signing of MoU on upgrading the Peshawar-Torkham road and the release of the CSF reimbursements.

“We should build on the positive momentum,” the president told Secretary Clinton while mentioning recent high-level contacts between the two countries.

The president also expressed “the deep dismay of the people of Pakistan at the blasphemous video”.

“One or two insane persons should not be allowed to endanger world peace in the garb of freedom of expression,” he said.

President Zardari urged the US administration to support large signature projects in Pakistan. He also stressed the importance of granting Pakistani products, particularly textiles, greater access to the US market. “Pakistan would rather do trade than depend on aid,” he said.

The president also invited the US to become a partner in the Diamer Bhasha Dam project, says that this will dispel an impression that the US only works to its own priorities in Pakistan.

Earlier, Mrs Clinton greeted Mr Zardari as “my friend” and introduced him to the new US ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, who she said had just been sworn in so he could attend their talks.

“We very much appreciate the strong response of your government,” she said, at the start of their meeting in a New York hotel.

She was referring to security arrangements Pakistan made during anti-blasphemy demonstrations in the country. During these demonstrations, protesters made several attempts to march up to US diplomatic missions in Islamabad and Karachi but were prevented by the Pakistani police.

Mr Zardari said it had been “a difficult time for all of us” before reporters were ushered out of the room.