Word: khalilzad
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...government as Nouri al-Maliki owes to the Bush Administration. In April, strong U.S. backing catapulted al-Maliki into his job as Iraq's Prime Minister after a two-month impasse over the nomination of his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Sunni and Kurdish politicians say U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad leaned heavily on them to back al-Maliki. "Khalilzad made it clear there was only one man on Washington's wish list," a senior Kurdish leader told TIME on condition of anonymity. "Al-Maliki cannot have any doubts about...
...Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, desperate for the creation of a "national unity" government that includes representatives of all the ethnic and sectarian groups, has declared Maliki's 37-member cabinet a giant leap forward. "With the political change that has taken place, with the emphasis on unity and reconciliation, with effective ministers, with associated activities, conditions are likely to move in the right direction and that would allow adjustments in terms of the size composition and mission of our forces," Khalilzad said. Expect that sentiment to be echoed by Bush Administration officials in Washington, where political progress is regarded as essential...
...known as a strident Shi'ite hardliner. Since his nomination, he has struck a more conciliatory pose, talking up unity and inching away from the anti-Sunni positions he had previously defended. His reinvention has been aided by U.S. officials keen to present him as Iraq's best hope. Khalilzad has described him an a "patriot, a tough-minded leader" who has "taken tough positions against terrorists and the insurgency and Baathists...
...staffing of the security ministries is closely tied to the challenge of curbing the sectarian militias that Khalilzad has called "the infrastructure of civil war." Maliki's position, like that of Jaafari, is that the militias must be absorbed into the new security forces. That's an option that has critics worried, because if they keep their shape and leadership, then incorporating them simply gives militias official license to operate, in much the same the way that critics have charged that the Interior Ministry commandoes double as a Shi'ite militia...
...essential element for security in the region,? Ghomi says if America stopped treating Tehran as an enemy it could deliver results ?in the sensitive geopolitical situation in the Middle East.? He also laid out a number of conditions necessary for the proposed talks with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to proceed. Expecting the meeting to take place in Iraq, Ghomi says talks could not proceed without a representative of the Iraqi government present; he also said that an agenda had to be agreed on in advance and made public beforehand, ?not kept behind closed doors.? And he stressed that Iran would...