T
he Pakistani government "is basical ly abdicating to the Taliban and to
the extremists," Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton told Congress on
April 22 in an unusually blunt statement
that reflects the unease within the Obama
administration about an agreement authorized by President Asif Ali Zadari last week.
The agreement would permit sharia, or
Islamic law, in the Swat Valley - just 100
miles west of the capital, Islamabad - and
was reached after the Pakistani military
failed to rout Taliban fighters there.
Clinton, appearing before the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, tempered her
remarks by saying that the Pakistani government needs to improve its delivery of
justice and services - precisely what leaders there aim to do with billions of dollars
in new U.S. assistance.
"Look at why this is happening," Clinton
said, referring to the Swat Valley agreement. "If you talk to people in Pakistan,
especially in the ungoverned territories,
which are increasing in number, they don't
believe the state has a judiciary system that
works. It's corrupt. It doesn't extend its
power into the countryside."
Saying Taliban and extremist advances
posed "an existential threat" to Pakistan,
Clinton urged Pakistanis worldwide to
speak out against the government's ceding
of ground to militants that she said intended to overthrow the government of a
nuclear-armed country.
Responding to Clinton's comments,
Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador
to the United States, told CNN: "Yes, we
have a challenge. But no, we do not have a
situation in which the government or the
country of Pakistan is about to fall to the
Taliban."
Clinton's testimony before the committee marked the former senator's first
appearance on Capitol Hill since her confirmation hearings. She answered questions for four hours, charming even skeptical Republicans with offers to work together but brushing aside tough questions on
abortion rights and interrogation practices
with sharply worded answers.
At one point, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, RCalif., cited former vice president Dick
Cheney, who has claimed that the administration is suppressing documents that
show a more positive picture of the effectiveness of interrogation techniques and
also that the Bush administration tried to
correct problems as they arose.
"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of
information," Clinton shot back.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., challenged
Clinton on President Obama's handshake
with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez,
noting that during the presidential primaries she had knocked Obama for
expressing a willingness to consider such
meetings. "President Obama won the election. He beat me in a primary in which he
put forth a different approach," she
replied. "And he is now our president and
we all want our president, no matter of
which party, to succeed, especially in such
a perilous time."
On Pakistan, the dilemma for the administration is that the more the Zardari government makes deals like the Swat agreement, the more difficult it becomes for
Congress to do what the administration
wants on Pakistan.
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., the committee chairman, has introduced legislation authorizing $7.5 billion in economic
and development aid and $3 billion in military assistance over the next five years exactly what the administration wants. But
the bill includes a list of conditions and
reporting benchmarks that both the
administration and the Pakistanis consider
onerous. The administration would prefer
a Senate version that would contain fewer
and vague conditions.
-With permission LA Times/
Washington Post
T
he Pakistani government "is basical-
ly abdicating to the Taliban and to
the extremists," Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton told Congress on
April 22 in an unusually blunt statement
that reflects the unease within the Obama
administration about an agreement autho-
rized by President Asif Ali Zadari last week.
The agreement would permit sharia, or
Islamic law, in the Swat Valley - just 100
miles west of the capital, Islamabad - and
was reached after the Pakistani military
failed to rout Taliban fighters there.
Clinton, appearing before the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, tempered her
remarks by saying that the Pakistani gov-
ernment needs to improve its delivery of
justice and services - precisely what lead-
ers there aim to do with billions of dollars
in new U.S. assistance.
"Look at why this is happening," Clinton
said, referring to the Swat Valley agree-
ment. "If you talk to people in Pakistan,
especially in the ungoverned territories,
which are increasing in number, they don't
believe the state has a judiciary system that
works. It's corrupt. It doesn't extend its
power into the countryside."
Saying Taliban and extremist advances
posed "an existential threat" to Pakistan,
Clinton urged Pakistanis worldwide to
speak out against the government's ceding
of ground to militants that she said intend-
ed to overthrow the government of a
nuclear-armed country.
Responding to Clinton's comments,
Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador
to the United States, told CNN: "Yes, we
have a challenge. But no, we do not have a
situation in which the government or the
country of Pakistan is about to fall to the
Taliban."
Clinton's testimony before the commit-
tee marked the former senator's first
appearance on Capitol Hill since her con-
firmation hearings. She answered ques-
tions for four hours, charming even skepti-
cal Republicans with offers to work togeth-
er but brushing aside tough questions on
abortion rights and interrogation practices
with sharply worded answers.
At one point, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-
Calif., cited former vice president Dick
Cheney, who has claimed that the adminis-
tration is suppressing documents that
show a more positive picture of the effec-
tiveness of interrogation techniques and
also that the Bush administration tried to
correct problems as they arose.
"It won't surprise you that I don't con-
sider him a particularly reliable source of
information," Clinton shot back.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., challenged
Clinton on President Obama's handshake
with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez,
noting that during the presidential pri-
maries she had knocked Obama for
expressing a willingness to consider such
meetings. "President Obama won the elec-
tion. He beat me in a primary in which he
put forth a different approach," she
replied. "And he is now our president and
we all want our president, no matter of
which party, to succeed, especially in such
a perilous time."
On Pakistan, the dilemma for the admin-
istration is that the more the Zardari gov-
ernment makes deals like the Swat agree-
ment, the more difficult it becomes for
Congress to do what the administration
wants on Pakistan.
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., the com-
mittee chairman, has introduced legisla-
tion authorizing $7.5 billion in economic
and development aid and $3 billion in mil-
itary assistance over the next five years -
exactly what the administration wants. But
the bill includes a list of conditions and
reporting benchmarks that both the
administration and the Pakistanis consider
onerous. The administration would prefer
a Senate version that would contain fewer
and vague conditions.
-With permission LA Times/
Washington Post