Page last updated at 01:33 GMT, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 02:33 UK
US to build Pakistan-Afghan trust  Pakistani police at the scene
of a car bombing in Peshwar (05 May 2009) Lawlessness is rife in
Pakistan's north-western regions  By Jonathan Beale BBC News,
Washington  "Pakistan's pants are on fire!"  This may be a
strange way to describe the state of a country, but it was the
metaphor used by one US congressman.  It was not meant as some
kind of playground taunt, but to describe the widespread alarm
at recent developments, with extremists fanning the flames.
Blame and mutual suspicion have undermined cooperation in the
past  In the White House the words may be more measured, but the
sentiment is the same.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
recently accused the Pakistani government of "abdicating" its
responsibility by signing a peace deal with Islamist militants
in the Swat valley.  Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, presents
President Barack Obama with his greatest immediate foreign-
policy challenge.  It