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| February 1, 2003 | Saturday | Ziqa’ad 28, 1423 |
Kasuri warns US of backlash
NEW YORK, Jan 31: Following a meeting with US President Mr George Bush and National Security Adviser Ms Condoleeza Rice on Thursday, Foreign Minister Mr Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri warned that a war (against Iraq) could lead to an anti-American backlash among Muslims.
“There has been a reaction to the events in Afghanistan which the government of Pakistan is doing its best to control,” the minister was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
He said: “There will be a reaction to the events in Iraq, and I want our friends in the United States to be mindful of those. There will be reaction not only in Pakistan, also all the Islamic world — there’ll be reaction even in Europe.”
The Times also said that the Saudi Foreign Minister Mr Saud Al Faisal had brought a formula to provide exile to President Saddam Hussein in order to avoid a war.
The paper said that after meeting with Mr Bush on Thursday, the Saudi ambassador here, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and the foreign minister, Prince Saud Al Faisal, told reporters that they had not discussed the idea, floated by other Saudi officials, of offering Mr Hussein exile in another country.
But the NYT said that another diplomat familiar with the Saudi proposal said it was “absolutely still a valid idea.”
Diplomats said Saudi Arabia had signalled a willingness to use its influence to win support for military action from all 15 members of the Security Council, a number of which, including France, have suggested that they would object to war on the timetable apparently being contemplated by Mr Bush.
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