The Hill News

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) offered no guarantees that the Senate would authorize continued support to Pakistan amid tensions between that government and the U.S.

Reid said Tuesday that it's best to "withhold judgment" on funding to Pakistan until the U.S. relationship with Pakistan can be fully vetted.

"I think this is the time that we have withhold judgment," Reid told reporters at the Capitol. "Before any money's going to be asked to be sent to Pakistan, there will be hearings; there will be discussions in the White House. There will be diplomatic activities taking place."

The Senate's top Democrat stressed that he hadn't made any decisions about the aid for Pakistan, but he wouldn't quite guarantee another year's worth of the billions in support for the Pakistani government.

Pakistan's leaders have faced suspicion following the U.S. raid earlier this month to successfully kill Osama bin Laden, who'd been hid! ing out for years in the city of Abbottabad.

President Obama and a number of intelligence leaders in both parties have said they suspected that bin Laden received help in hiding out; Obama said bin Laden was the beneficiary of a "support network," though other members of his administration have also said that senior political, military and intelligence leaders in Pakistan weren't specifically aware of bin Laden's whereabouts.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, returned from a trip to Pakistan on Tuesday to help mend its relationship with the U.S.

"We need to see if we can improve the relationship, and there are people working on that now, as indicated with the presentation made by Senator Kerry," Reid said. "We need a good relationship with Pakistan. I hope we can have that good relationship with Pakistan, but this isn't the time to start flexing our muscles."

"There's some things ! that are beginning to help, and we need to work together," he ! added.