Clinton first traveled to Pakistan as secretary of state in October, a trip that was marked by hostile questioning from student, media and civil society groups. They criticized CIA missile attacks from Predator drones in tribal areas, and charged that the United States was a fair-weather friend that had used this country to drive Soviet troops from Afghanistan in the 1980s and then abandoned it to deal alone with the resulting civil war and Taliban takeover next door.

While Pakistan denies any relationship with Taliban groups, many officials here consider them a bulwark against inroads in Afghanistan by India, its traditional adversary to the east. Administration efforts to woo the Pakistanis have been complicated by the close U.S. relationship with India.

Last week, Gen. David H. Petraeus made his first visit here as the new U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan. Petraeus's predecessor, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, was a frequent visitor to Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, who is said to have an arms-length relationship with Petraeus.

After meetings Sunday night with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusef Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mohammed Qureshi on Monday will convene the second session of a bilateral "strategic dialogue" begun in Washington last spring. Since the initial session, representatives of the two governments have drawn up lists of agreed projects, with the United States seeking programs that will be visible to the greatest number of Pakistanis.

"We think you're going to find a different situation here" in terms of anti-American feeling compared to Clinton's last visit, Holbrooke said. "The fact that we are delivering is producing change in Pakistani attitudes, first within the government and gradually, more slowly, within public opinion." Recent polls have indicated only a slight improvement in Pakistani opinion.

On the energy front, the United States is in competition with China, which has announced plans to sell two nuclear reactors to Pakistan. Earlier this month, Zardari made his fifth visit in less than two years to China, and the two countries declared a "strategic partnership."
The administration has objected to the reactor sale as a violation of international nuclear safeguards. But its case is undermined by a U.S.-India civil nuclear deal negotiated under the Bush administration and implemented under Obama. Both India and Pakistan are nuclear weapons states, and neither is a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

"We've asked the Chinese for more information," a senior U.S. official said about China's contention that the deal falls outside existing regulations. "It is an important issue for us."