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Thursday, 21 October 2010

Obama to bypass Pakistan on Asia trip next month

OBAMA FOR USA

President Barack Obama will bypass Pakistan when he visits India and east Asia next month, in the latest twist in America's tempestuous relationship with its vital ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

But the White House said the president had committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011 and added that he looked forward to welcoming Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington, though no dates were specified.

Obama smoothly scotched speculation he would make a surprise visit to Islamabad on his trip, which begins in just over two weeks, in a meeting with a Pakistani delegation taking part in a strategic dialogue with US officials.

"The president explained that he would not be stopping in Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, and committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011," a White House statement said.

Any trip to Pakistan by Obama would have been fraught with political sensitivity and security concerns, and may have been seen as a distraction from the symbolism of his three-day visit to Pakistan's arch-nuclear rival India.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was part of the Pakistani delegation, said Obama's statement was evidence of the high level of US-Pakistani ties.

"The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place," Qureshi said.

The United States and Pakistan have been going through another rocky patch in their tense, nine-year marriage of convenience, which emerged from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In a recent report to Congress, the White House said bluntly that though Pakistan had made sacrifices in the US anti-terror campaign, it could do more to crack down on extremist safe-havens in lawless tribal areas.

In the meeting with Pakistani delegates to the three-day US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, Obama said it was important to move the mutual relationship to a "true partnership based on mutual respect and common interests."

"The president and the Pakistani delegation agreed on the need for regional stability, and specifically on the importance of cooperating toward a peaceful and stable outcome in Afghanistan," the statement said.

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates held a 30-minute meeting with powerful Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, about the aftermath of a cross-border NATO raid that severely strained relations.

Cooperation between military commanders had improved, "but this incident clearly indicates that there's more work to be done," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, referring to the helicopter raid that left two Pakistani soldiers dead.

Obama also touched on the situation in Pakistan during his latest regular monthly meeting with his Afghanistan war cabinet.

The 90-minute session included a briefing on talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and what a New York Times report said Wednesday were Taliban leaders at the "highest levels."

The meeting also covered the Afghan parliamentary elections last month, in which 1.3 million votes -- nearly a quarter of the total -- were thrown out on Wednesday over fraud concerns.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Taliban leaders involved in the talks with the Afghan government were being offered safe passage by NATO troops from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

In one case, Taliban leaders crossed the border and boarded a NATO aircraft bound for Kabul, the paper said, though it added that most of the discussions had taken place outside the Afghan capital.

The White House has backed talks, though US officials insist Taliban fighters seeking reconciliation must renounce violence and lay down their arms.

US officials have also played down the potential for what are still described as "preliminary" contacts.

But the Times suggested that some officials hoped it might be possible to "split" the Taliban movement, and get large numbers of fighters to defect to the Afghan government.

The Taliban has denied a claim by Karzai that it is taking part in the talks, more than nine years after it was driven from power by a US-led invasion after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

During his visit to Asia in November, Obama is also due to make a twice-postponed visit to Indonesia and attend the APEC summit in Japan and G20 summit in South Korea.

by Stephen Collinson (AFP)
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