Islamabad, Oct 21 (IANS): Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said he is satisfied with the army's level of readiness.

Addressing a conference of formation commanders Thursday, Kayani lauded the military and its stabilisation operations being carried out in FATA to restore peace, reported Dawn.

The two-day conference began Thursday, a day when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived here on a two-day visit amid escalating tensions between Washington and Islamabad.

The conference is being attended by corps commanders, principal staff officers and formation commanders who briefed on the security situation in the country.

Clinton's visit takes place at a time when Pakistan-US ties have seen a sharp decline after the attack last month on the US embassy in Kabul and the truck bomb blast at a major American military base in Afghanistan's Maidan Wardak province, blamed on the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.

The US accuses Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI of supporting the Haqqani network in both attacks, a charge denied by Islamabad.

There is also tension over the massing of heavily-armed US and NATO troops at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.