Clinton has hearty laugh at meeting in Islamabad

Islamabad: Washington's troubled relationship with Pakistan has triggered plenty of heartburn for US officials, but rarely sidesplitting laughter.

That changed yesterday when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton erupted in amusement during a town hall meeting in Islamabad when a participant described the US as Pakistan's impossible to please mother-in-law.

"We all know that the whole of Pakistan is facing the brunt of whatever is happening and trying to cooperate with the US, and somehow the US is like a mother-in-law which is just not satisfied with us," said a woman who identified herself as Shamama and elicited a round of applause from the crowd.

"We are trying to please you, and every time you come and visit us you have a new idea and tell us, ‘You are not doing enough and need to work harder,'" said Shamama, who works for a women's group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Laughing at length, Clinton said she could personally relate to the woman's perspective because she too is a mother-in-law.

The secretary of state's daughter, Chelsea, married an investment banker last year in New York. "I think that's a great analogy I have never heard before," said Clinton.

"Now that I am a mother-in-law, I totally understand what you're saying and hope to do better privately and publicly."

The US and Pakistan have long had a troubled relationship that got worse following the arrest of a CIA man, the killing Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and allegations that Pakistan's spy agency supported militants attacking US targets in Afghanistan.