Word: pakistan
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Pity the Obama Administration, having to behave as if Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai were reliable stewards of U.S. security interests in the world's most troubling trouble-spot. An epic suspension of disbelief is required to cast either of the men Obama welcomed at the White House on Wednesday as capable of leading a successful fight against the Taliban. Zardari's approval ratings are lower than those of the reviled former dictator President Pervez Musharraf; his army is reluctant to go to war against a section of the country's citizenry...
...Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, arrives at the White House on Wednesday as one of his country's walking wounded. Amid rising violence and turmoil, his popularity among his own people has hit rock bottom; political allies and rivals alike smell blood in the water; the country's military barely pretends to follow his instructions; the Taliban controls large swaths of his country's territory; and militant groups want his head - literally. So, can Pakistan's President expect some TLC in Washington? From the White House, perhaps, but Capitol Hill has little love left for Zardari...
...Ahead of Wednesday's trilateral summit between the Pakistani leader, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama, U.S. officials were doing their best to soothe congressional skepticism over sending Pakistan's military and political authorities desperately needed infusions of cash. Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that Zardari has the Administration's total backing. "He should be treated as the leader of a country who vitally needs our support and whose success is vitally related to American interests," Holbrooke said. Asked whether the Obama Administration...
...unconditionally bail out Zardari's government, expressing sharp criticism of his handling of the fight against extremism in his country and skepticism over the Obama Administration's claims that Islamabad if finally getting serious about that fight. At the Holbrooke hearing, Democratic Representative Gary Ackerman of New York said, "Pakistan's pants are on fire, but ... they don't recognize the risk [they...
...Administration worries that stringent conditions demanded by the House (the Senate is somewhat more accommodating) will be interpreted in Pakistan as a sign that the U.S. is pulling away from its old ally, and could weaken the government. But lawmakers seemed unimpressed by Holbrooke's appeals. Committee chairman Democrat Howard Berman of California said the House is "simply asking the Pakistanis to keep the commitments they have already made to fight the terrorists who threaten our national security and theirs, and that they make some progress doing so, with progress defined very broadly." If that is unreasonable, Berman asked, "then...