'Hard to believe Pak clueless on Qaida'- US
WASHINGTON: It was supposed to be a charm offensive, but as the day wore on she put away her charm and went on the offensive.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s public dressing down of Pakistan during a three-day visit there, including virtually accusing the country of complicity with al-Qaida, has shaken Washington as much as it stunned her hosts.
“Her inner voice became her outer voice,” Martha Raddatz, a veteran NBC correspondent said on the network. Officials in Washington were trying to keep a straight face, but there were a few gasps, she added.
Clinton’s blunt remarks came during a pow-wow with half-dozen combative senior Pakistani journalists who harried her about US policy in the region. “Al-Qaida has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002”, she finally asserted when challenged about Washington’s tough prescriptions for Islamabad. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to”.
After having publicly doubted the bona fides of her hosts, she added, as an afterthought: “Maybe that’s the case; maybe they’re not gettable... I don’t know. As far as we know, they are in Pakistan”. At one point during the exchanges, when a journalist spoke about all the services rendered by Pakistan for the US, Clinton snapped, “We have also given you billions.”
The US secretary of state also took a swipe at the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies, saying, "If we are going to have a mature partnership where we work together" then "there are issues that not just the US but others have with your government and with your military security establishment." She said she was “more than willing to hear every complaint about the US’ but the relationship had to be a “two-way street.”
Clinton appeared to get feisty after a meeting with university students in Lahore where she had to entertain several whiny questions about the United States’ treatment of a long-serving ally. “They described a litany
of slights, betrayals and
misunderstandings that add up to a national narrative of grievance, against which she did her best to push back,” the New York Times said in its description of the event.
And push back she did. Faced with criticism about what some Pakistanis believe is inadequate US aid, she suggested to a group of Pakistani businessmen that it’s about time the country also learnt to take care of itself instead.
She then issued a stark warning to the country: “You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don’t know what you’re gonna do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now.”
Clinton’s remarks rocked Washington on the eve of President Obama’s seventh, and possibly final, review of the Af-Pak strategy, slated for Friday. “She is challenging them...it is a high-risk strategy,” Richard Haas, a prominent policy pundit, said in a television interview.
petro dollars!
Dot.com.. It is quite evident that US has a bigger interest in that Area appart from flashing out Al Qaeda?
Who is Al Qaeda and who funds them. Simple the Arab world have moved all their own problems to Afganistan. So it can be said that the havok in that Area is because of the Arab militants. Who funds the Taliban is another question that one may ask.
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"HE WHO DARES WINS"
Derek Edward Trotter
This lady was bold enough to open her mouth without being diplomatic. and this is the truth. Those buggers needs the funds as UKeng mentiond.
Here you go Winn
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Hard-to-believe-Pak-clueless-on-Qaida/articleshow/5182276.cms
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Watch n have fun
dot.com - UKeng has a point, Its the politicians who wants the money. US ofcourse will have their own interests for sure.
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- Listen to Many...Speak to a Few -
AL Qaeda has become too big a monster in Pakistan for them to control...as for Pakistan intelligence,it's a known fact that the ISI has MANY Al-Qaeda sympathisers,high up in the hierachy & the country is de facto run by the millitary,has been for many years now...in such a situation,they're in a corner & unable to find a way out...maybe they should've asked her how if the world's lone "superpower" with all their millitary might & eyes & ears in the sky couldn't track down & finish off Al Qaeda,how the hell does she expect the Pakistan govt. to do it on their own???...
do u think that Pakistan is their uncle's son or they are giving billions of Aid for their own interest???
The BBC's Jill McGivering says that a great deal of anger in Pakistan is focused on the US - widely seen as interfering and destabilising Pakistan for its own ends.
If all the mess is sorted. Who is gonna give Billions of Aid to Pakistan?
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"HE WHO DARES WINS"
Derek Edward Trotter
Winn,
I agree with Hillary and you.
It's about time that the Pakistani big shots stop waffling (which they are very good at) at start planning, acting, leading and managing!
Well US could not find Osama in 8 years and Pakistan will eliminate the Taliban in months?
It is not in their interest for both Pakistan and US to sort out the mess that they have created with all those Madarasa and refugee camps of the eighty's. They both know that the menace that have created.
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"HE WHO DARES WINS"
Derek Edward Trotter
"... she suggested to a group of Pakistani businessmen that it’s about time the country also learnt to take care of itself instead..."
truer words were never spoken!! They need to take responsibility for whatever happens within their borders instead of looking in the shadows to find bogeymen to point their fingers on, everytime something goes wrong.
Bee: It would be nice of you could give the URl/ paste the link.
During her three-day trip Mrs Clinton hoped to strengthen ties between the US and Pakistan and tried to address a rising tide of anti-American feeling.
Hillarys words..
“Al-Qaida has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002”,
“We have also given you billions.”
“I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to”.