In his first visit to Islamabad in three years and first under US President Barack Obama, Gates tried to reassure a public and leadership sceptical of Washington's plan to tackle militancy and turn around the war in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has seen security drastically deteriorate since joining in Washington's "war on terror" in 2001 and balks at complaints from US officials that it is not doing enough to tackle militant groups.
US drone strikes targeting Islamist fighters in Pakistan also stir anger in the Muslim nation, while many Pakistanis voice bitterness over US abandonment of the region once the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.
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"I was in government in the early 1990s, when Russia left the region and the United States largely abandoned Afghanistan and cut off defence ties with Pakistan -- a grave strategic mistake driven by some well-intentioned but short-sighted US legislative and policy decisions," said Gates.
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