US govt’s help sought to bridge Pakistan-Afghan rift
By Our Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18: A US congressional delegation has urged the White House to appoint a presidential envoy for removing differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan. At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, members of the delegation also claimed that President Pervez Musharraf told them at a meeting in Lahore that the North Waziristan agreement needs to be “reworked.”
Senator Hillary Clinton, who proposed appointing a US presidential envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said she was concerned that “we might have some difficulties between our two great allies” at a time when they need to work together to defeat the “resurgent” Taliban and Al Qaeda forces.
“I discussed with both President Karzai and President Musharraf whether a high-level United States envoy on a continuing basis would be helpful, and they both expressed a positive reaction,” she added.
The delegation met Mr Karzai in Kabul where they also discussed a proposal for expanding US troops in Afghanistan with US military commanders.
Senator Clinton and Senator Evan Bayh, a fellow Democrat from Indiana, have written a letter to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, urging him to deploy more troops to Afghanistan to help the Afghan government fight a likely Taliban offensive this spring.
Ms Clinton, a former First Lady and the 2008 presidential hopeful, said when she returned to Washington she telephoned the White House and spoke with National Security Adviser Steve Hadley to suggest that President Bush consider appointing a special presidential envoy.
Another member of the delegation, Congressman John McHugh, said that at their meeting in Lahore President Musharraf conceded that there were problems with the North Waziristan agreement reached between Islamabad and tribal elders late last year.
“The Northern Waziristan agreement, as President Musharraf admitted to us in our meeting with him, is not what it was designed to be, and that has to be reworked as well,” said Mr McHugh, a New York Republican who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
He said that the Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents entering Afghanistan from the Pakistani side of the border were a threat to the entire region.
“If we allow those forces, mainly, unfortunately, coming from Pakistan, to come in and to institute the kind of violence we've seen in Baghdad into places like Kandahar, I'm afraid the future is very, very grim,” he said.
Senator Clinton recalled that in September President Bush hosted a dinner for the Afghan and Pakistani leaders “to try and work out some of their concerns” but it did not achieve the required results.
She said that during a 90-minute meeting, President Musharraf described to the delegation “some of his frustrations” with his relationship with the Afghan government.
“And when we were in Afghanistan, our military commanders described to us the challenges that they have faced with the increased penetration coming from the Pakistani side of the border,” she said.
After hearing the two sides, Ms Clinton concluded that both Afghanistan and Pakistan were facing problems in preventing the resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda forces from travelling back and forth across the border.
“Obviously, from President Musharraf's perspective, he had some legitimate questions about how best to work with his Afghan counterparts that he shared with us.”
Congressman McHugh felt that to allow the disagreements between Pakistan and Afghanistan to continue was “not just unfortunate, it's unacceptable and it needs to be worked through.”
Senator Bayh said that the coming summer is going to be a critical period for Afghanistan, endorsing media reports that the Taliban are preparing a major offensive later this year.
