Although she stressed that the U.S. won’t abandon an alliance it considers critical to success in the war in Afghanistan and that both countries had shared interests, Clinton also criticized Pakistanis for propagating conspiracy theories and anti-American sentiment.

Pakistani officials are angry they were not told in advance of the raid against bin Laden, who was living in an army town not far from the capital, Islamabad. Parliament has passed resolutions condemning the U.S. incursion, and the U.S. has been asked to reduce the number of military personnel it has stationed in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which has become a nexus for Islamic extremism.

In the U.S., suspicions have abounded that elements in Pakistan’s security services may have harbored the terrorist mastermind, and some lawmakers have called for a review of the billions in military and humanitarian aid that the U.S. gives to Pakistan.

Clinton and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, were the highest ranking U.S. officials to travel to Pakistan since the raid. They met Friday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, among others.

Afterward, Clinton said relations “had reached a turning point,” but that she thought Pakistan knew the stakes involved. She joked about the tense atmosphere witnessed by reporters at the beginning of the talks, but was serious-faced for the most of the news conference.

“We will do our part, and we look to the government of Pakistan to take decisive steps in the days ahead,” she said at the U.S. Embassy, with no Pakistani official present. “Joint action against al-Qaida and its affiliates will make Pakistan, America and the world safer and more secure.”

She added that the Pakistanis had mentioned “some very specific actions” they would take in the short term, but did not give any details. She also said the U.S. had been given access to bin Laden’s compound Friday, a sign of ongoing cooperation between the nations.

The U.S. relies on Pakistan for transit and supply routes for foreign troops in Afghanistan and will need its help if Afghanistan is to broker a peace deal with Taliban militants. The country is believed to have influence over several Afghan insurgent commanders.

Clinton acknowledged this, saying “for reconciliation to succeed Pakistan must be part of this process.”

She also repeated that no evidence has emerged that people in Pakistan’s highest ranks had any idea of bin Laden’s whereabouts.

According to Clinton, Zardari, the Pakistani president, grew emotional when saying that had he known of bin Laden’s whereabouts he would have gone after him. Zardari is the widower of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated by suspected al-Qaida-linked militants.

“Our counterparts in the (Pakistani) government were very forthcoming in saying that somebody, somewhere, was providing some kind of support, and they are carrying out an investigation and we have certainly offered to share whatever information we come across,” Clinton added.

Zardari’s office released a statement after the meeting saying that the two sides agreed to “work together in any future actions against high-value targets in Pakistan,” and to cooperate on promoting peace in Afghanistan.

The U.S. visit comes a day after a Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck loaded with explosives near several government offices in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 32 people.

Thursday’s blast was the latest in a series of attacks to hit the country since the bin Laden raid, including an 18-hour siege of a naval base in Pakistan’s south. Some commentators and elements in the media have tried to blame the siege on “foreign hands” such as archrival India, with some suggesting that it was part of a grand Western conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan and take away its nuclear weapons.

Clinton lashed out at conspiracy theorists and those who spread anti-American views, saying such actions hamper what could be a more constructive relationship, and ultimately “won’t make problems disappear.”

The explosion leveled some three dozen mud-brick homes and covered the village with dust, smoke and the smell of burning flesh. On Saturday, numerous homes received visitors offering condolences, and funeral prayers were held. Many of the residents in the village of 5,000, which lies near Pakistan’s militant-filled tribal belt, were too scared to name any possible culprits, but others were defiant.

“The people are in severe grief and fear — it is a demoralizing thing,” said Raham Dil Khan, a rifle-toting, 70-something member of the tribal council. “We want the government to provide security, but one thing is very clear: The committee will stand against every type of terrorism and despite this great loss we will continue our work.”

None of the elders at the gathering was killed. The 28-member council had been debating punishing relatives of militants suspected in the recent killing of a fellow tribal leader, Khan said.

Across Pakistan’s northwest, where the police force is thin, underpaid and under-equipped, various villages and tribes have taken security into their own hands over the past two years by setting up citizen militias to fend off the Taliban.

The government has encouraged such “lashkars,” and in some areas they have proven key to reducing militant activity. In the Bajur tribal region, for instance, the militias helped turn the tide against militants during a 2008-2009 army offensive. And in the northwest’s Swat Valley, citizens have set up militias to prevent militants from staging a comeback as the army continues an offensive there.

The militia movement has its roots in ethnic Pashtun tribal traditions that go back generations and encourage vengeance. It has been compared to the largely successful U.S. efforts to persuade Sunni tribesmen to turn on al-Qaida in Iraq.

But Pakistani tribal leaders who face off with the militants do so at grave personal risk. Several suicide attacks have targeted meetings of anti-Taliban elders, and militants often go after individuals.

One reason militancy has spread in Pakistan’s tribal belt — a semi-autonomous region where tribes, not the government, have long wielded the most authority — is because insurgents have slain dozens of elders and filled the resulting power vacuum.

Shah Hasan Khel is a village filled with many farmers and other laborers. Its residents are mainly Pashtuns, the same group that make up the bulk of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.

The two movements are separate but linked, and both oppose their countries’ U.S. allied governments. U.S. and Pakistani army offensives aim to squeeze the militants on both sides of the border, though many of the insurgents are believed to slip easily back and forth across the porous boundary.

The militia in Shah Hasan Khel has about 1,000 members, essentially all the adult males in the village, but tribal elders said residents needed more support — including weapons — from the government.

“Such attacks will only strengthen our resolve — being Pashtun, revenge is the only answer to the gruesome killings,” said Mushtaq Khan, 50, the head of the tribal council.

Shah Hasan Khel lies in Lakki Marwat district near South Waziristan, where the army has been waging an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban since October. The military operation was undertaken with the backing of the U.S., which is eager for Pakistan to free its tribal belt of militants believed to be involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.

But the offensive has provoked apparent reprisal attacks across the country. Those behind the strikes appear increasingly willing to hit targets beyond security forces. No group claimed responsibility for Friday’s blast, but that is not uncommon when many civilians die.

Mohammed Qayyum, 22, tried to avoid crying Saturday as he recounted how his younger brother died and his family’s house was damaged.

“After the blast, I heard cries, I saw dust, and I saw injured and dead bodies,” said Qayyum, who escaped safely. “See this rubble? See these destroyed homes? Everybody was happy before the explosion, but today we are mourning.”

While many in the village seemed scared or in shock, others vowed revenge.

“We are not cowards,” said Naqeebullah Khan, 25, who lost a cousin. “We will fight. We will die. We will not bow to these cowards.”

Authorities said about 300 people were on or near the volleyball court, including security personnel.

Local administrator Asmatullah Khan said Saturday that 90 bodies had been identified, while six remained unknown. Thirty-six people were being treated at nearby medical centers.

Mushtaq Khan, the tribal leader, estimated the death toll was higher, saying more than two dozen people were reported missing.

The attack was one of the deadliest in years in Pakistan, and the second deadliest since the latest wave of bloodshed began in October. A car bomb killed 112 people at a crowded market in Peshawar on Oct. 28.

As hundreds of people poured into the village to offer condolences, Raees Khan, a 65-year-old who lost five relatives in the blast, showed the palms of his hands and said: “Look at these blisters. We were working all night to dig the dead bodies out of this rubble. We are tired.”

He then looked down at the pile of debris beneath him and said, “I don’t know whether there are more dead bodies under my feet.”

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Toosi reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad in Islamabad and Ijaz Mohammed in Shah Hasan Khel contributed to this report.