July 19, 2007
NASHVILLE, United States (AFP) - The White House on Thursday refused to rule out striking at suspected terrorist targets inside Pakistan and would not say whether US forces would first seek permission from Islamabad.
Asked whether Bush would first seek authorization from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Snow told reporters: "Those are matters that are best not discussed publicly."
Washington in recent days has sharply criticized Musharraf's truce with leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas, where Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants were believed hiding, calling on him to take aggressive military action.
And Bush's top counter-terrorism adviser at the White House recently suggested that the United States did not get all of the cooperation it hoped for from Pakistan in the global war on terrorism.
At the same time, the White House has been praising Musharraf personally.
"President Musharraf has put his life on the line and has been a very important ally in the war on terror," Snow said as Bush traveled here to make remarks on the federal budget.
"It's also clear that Taliban and al Qaeda, in the northwest territories and the federally administered tribal areas, have begun to put on operations that threaten the government of Pakistan itself," he added.
"President Musharraf, having tried one approach, in terms of dealing with the tribal leaders, is now going to have to be more aggressive and is being more aggressive moving forces into the region to deal with the security problems there," he said.
1 comment:
Dear General Pervez Musharraf,
The leader of a country is the one whom we could own, but in our country, it is the one "feared." You tell the Americans to go for dialogue in Waziristan and Afghanistan but you kill your own mates within the country. You are under a "messiah" complex and are putting everything at stake. I, after years of opposition to the arguments of my friends have started to believe now that Pakistan may disintegrate under a General again. Even further, the Americans are pushing us towards internal conflicts, towards civil war. They propagate dialog in their own country but provide more arms to the Pakistan Army to kill their own countrymen.
Additionally, the feeling I get when I enter any cantonment area in Pakistan makes me think that the civilians live in a different world. Yes, Mr. President (through a fake referendum!), flowers abound in the garrison areas, children play squash, tennis, swim in swimming pools, get educated in best schools and colleges, have clean environment and get best hospital treatment but the civilian-poor swim in rain water, play hide and seek with arms around them and fight with unemployment, costly education, zero health, no legal protection and negative law and order scenarios.
You have created an even bigger divide among Pakistan Army and the people of Pakistan. Zia started it but now it is touching heights! We as children used to come out of our homes and salute any green army vehicle passing by. Now, we fear and keep our children away from the defenders of the nation.
There is much more Mr. President but you need open eyes and ears, open heart and most of all, good aides to tell you the truth. You have been surrounded by incompetent and corrupt people from all sides (by the way, it was your choice in the first place to involve NAB and then get these crooks with you); accompanied with your stubbornness, this makes things worse for Pakistan. The losers are us, the common people of Pakistan; the winners - God knows!
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