August 30, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 16, 1428

PESHAWAR, Aug 29: Washington is engaged in negotiations with Tehran in order to normalise relations, says Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr Mead, who is Henry Kissinger fellow at the CFR, termed the US act of leaving the war-ravaged Afghanistan at the mercy of warlords in 1998 a blunder and said that the US had distanced itself from stabilisation and reconstruction efforts in that country.

He said that US decision-makers had experienced one crisises after the other because of their mishandling of the Iran hostage issue in 1979. He said negotiations were the best and effective way to sort things out even with enemies.

Referring to Taliban, he said it was still not known who were the real Taliban. He said there were many groups who claimed to be Taliban. So far, he said, they were a scattered force, which had no central authority. He said it was difficult to believe that there were some moderate elements among the Taliban. He said he could not say if the Americans would hold talks with militants calling themselves Taliban, the group which had led a short-lived regime in Kabul. He said that even then, apart from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the world had not recognised their authority.

He said Europe was no longer the central plank of US foreign policy, adding that it affected the main part of its policy during the Cold War period.

He said: “The US believes in a modern and stable Asia, but it will not engage itself in a sort of cold war with China, which has emerged as a rising economic player in the region.” He said there were many other important players, including Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and Australia, adding that the US wanted to have cordial relations with booming economies.

In the past, he said the US was engaged in Cold War with the former Soviet Union, staying away from other Asian countries. He said that bilateral relations between Pakistan and US had seen many ups and downs since the mid-60s and Islamabad was still a close US ally.

He dispelled the impression that the US had supported the present military-led government in Pakistan or that it opposed the flourishing of democracy in the country.

Mr Mead said various officials of the US administration had opposed the imposition of emergency in Pakistan. “The United States wants restoration of real democracy in the country. Its stand is clear on this issue”, he added.