Pakistan, U.S.; Trust Key To Terror Fight

Despite Opposition Over Missile Strikes, 2 Nations Stress Need To Corroborate To Combat Militants

(AP)  Pakistani and U.S. officials emphasized the need for trust between their countries to counter the al Qaeda and the Taliban threat, even as Pakistan's foreign minister complained Tuesday about American missile strikes on his nation's soil.

U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke and Adm. Mike Mullen of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff were visiting Pakistan on the heels of President Obama's announcement of plans to reinvigorate the war in Afghanistan by sending more troops to the region and boosting aid to Pakistan to help it stave off al Qaeda and Taliban-led militancy on its soil.

Pakistani leaders say they are happy about getting billions more in assistance, but Mr. Obama's insistence that the money won't come without conditions - no "blank check" - has rankled some here and underscored a trust deficit between the two camps.

"We can only work together if we respect each other and trust each other," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said during a joint news conference.

It was a sentiment echoed by Mullen, who said he was committed to improving the nations' relationship to the point where there is a "surplus of trust."

Pakistan's civilian government points to the deaths of hundreds of Pakistani troops in battling insurgents along the Afghan frontier in questioning the line from Washington. But U.S. officials have complained that the country's spy agency still has ties to some militant groups, something Pakistan denies.

"Pakistan is committed in eliminating extremism from the society, for which it needs unconditional support by the international community in the fields of education, health, training and provision of equipment for fighting terrorism," Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said in a statement after meeting the envoys.

Zardari also urged the use of negotiations to resolve some tensions with the militants, something the U.S. is considering.

"Military action is only one aspect of the solution," the statement said.

Pakistan faces rising terrorist attacks on its soil by militants upset over its cooperation with the United States. Pakistani citizens have held protests denouncing recent attacks, but there is widespread worry that cooperating with the U.S. in the anti-terrorist fight is what is damaging the nation's security.

Many Pakistanis also are irritated with U.S. missile strikes on militant targets in the northwest, and the government has officially and repeatedly requested they be stopped because they inflame anti-American sentiment.

On that subject, "There's a gap between us and them," Qureshi insisted Tuesday.

Many analysts suspect the two countries have a secret deal allowing the strikes, which American officials say have killed some top militant leaders.

The foreign minister further said that Pakistan has "red lines" that should not be crossed, but would only specify its objection to any sort of U.S. ground operation on its territory when asked to elaborate.

Asked about whether the U.S. could simply hand over Predator drones to the Pakistanis so they could carry out the strikes, Mullen did not directly answer, but said the Americans were eager to share counter-insurgency techniques and lessons with Pakistan.

Holbrooke said the countries face a common challenge and task.

"We have had a long and complicated history, our two countries," he said. "We cannot put the past behind us, but we must learn from it and move forward."

The envoys' visit also comes just days after Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, warned that the group would carry out two suicide bombings per week in Pakistan unless the U.S. stops the missile strikes.

[nolies74621]

Obama bows to Saudi king
Greeting called 'most unbecoming for president of the United States'

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Posted: April 02, 2009
4:12 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


President Obama greeted the king of Saudi Arabia with a full bow from the waist yesterday, a move one commentator described as a violation of protocol and not worthy of the office he holds.

"I am quite certain that this is not the protocol, and is most unbecoming a president of the United States," writes Clarice Feldman in an American Thinker commentary.

The situation developed as leaders of the world attending the G20 summit in London assembled for a photograph to mark the event.

In this first image, after the king extended his hand while Obama approached, Obama bends from the waist until his head is nearly at the monarch's waist:



OK! I saw the video and was shocked. How could the so called POTUS bow to a Monarch. I guess he wants oil. Any defense for the exhaulted messiahs' actions on this total lack of guts? He may as well have said to the world that America will BOW TO ANYONE and pretty much supplicated the US to the entire world. WEAK,WEAK,WEAK. So much for the intelligence and dignity factor. Now I have seen it all. Why is'nt CBS covering this?