ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The preemptive diplomatic strike began eight days ago.

On Tuesday of last week, the State Department briefed the Pakistani ambassador in Washington. The next day, in person and by phone, senior U.S. officials extended regrets and assurances to Pakistan's president and foreign minister, according to a senior Pakistani diplomat who spoke to The Washington Post.

On Monday, the audience was the strongly anti-American Pakistani public. "The United States deeply regrets the disclosure of any information that was intended to be confidential," U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter wrote in a column published in the News, an English-language Pakistani daily, and its Urdu-language counterpart. "And we condemn it."

As American officials around the globe prepared last week for a deluge of leaked cables from the Web site WikiLeaks that could expose them at their least statesmanlike, they also undertook an acutely delicate diplomatic task: cushioning the blow with key friends and rivals.

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