Pakistan won't collapse: Zardari

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 5/10/09 | Jitendra Joshi

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denied his nuclear-armed nation was on the verge of collapse as top US officials Sunday welcomed his government's bloody military offensive against the Taliban.

"Is the state of Pakistan going to collapse?" Zardari said in an NBC interview aired Sunday, after White House talks last week with President Barack Obama that were also attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"No. We are 180 million people. There the population is much, much more than the insurgents are," Zardari said, fending off a mounting clamor against his leadership from US lawmakers.

Karzai had his own complaints to press as he lashed out at US air strikes after an attack last week that, his government said, killed up to 130 Afghan villagers including women and children.

Obama's national security advisor, James Jones, said the United States would "redouble" efforts to limit civilian casualties but would not hamper its forces in Afghanistan by banning the air strikes.

"We can't fight with one hand tied behind our back," General Jones said on ABC, arguing Karzai "understands that we have to have the full complement of our offensive military power when we need it."

US regional commander General David Petraeus also took on board Karzai's bitter criticism about the impact on civilians, but said the "Taliban bears enormous blame" by firing on US troops from inside villagers' houses.

The head of US Central Command noted that with the Taliban making deep inroads into Pakistan itself, there was now a "degree of unanimity" among Pakistan's civilian and military leaders that they had to fight back.

"This is a Pakistani fight, a Pakistani battle, with elements that ... threaten the very existence of the Pakistani state," Petraeus said on Fox News Sunday.

[NormsRevenge]

Map showing the Swat valley where Pakistan has sent thousands of troops to "eliminate" extremists. More than 100,000 civilians are expected to flee Pakistan's battle-torn northwest region, after the government eased a curfew so people could escape a military onslaught against the Taliban. (AFP Graphics)

[alloysteel]

Unh-oh. This statement probably means the tent is about to be kicked down and set on fire.

Take up your rifles and mount your horses, men. The curse of the Hindu Kush is about to strike again.

[Future Snake Eater]

Pah-KEE-stahn is in danger? Oh no! Not Pah-KEE-stahn! I really like Pah-KEE-stahn! No, please, any country but Pah-KEE-stahn!

[Rome2000]

The nukes will be in Taliban hands by the end of the year.

The election of the muslim in chief emboldens them, they see it as a sign from above that they will be victorious.

It is unstoppable.

[gandalftb]

Here's where the press get their stories:

http://www.ispr.gov.pk/front/main.asp?o=t-main_page

[devere]

I remember this scene from Godfather 2 ... just before the collapse of the Battista regime in Cuba.

[Cheetahcat]

This coming from the guy who once looted the country with his wife?

[dr_who]

At least that’s Zardari talking instead of Geitner or Obama.

[Past Your Eyes]

[Jack Hammer]

Pakistan won’t collapse - the government will be propped up by the Taliban after they’ve taken over.

[ajay_kumar]

I have always thought if US is ever attacked by a smuggled in nuke, it's origins will be traced to Pakistan.

Pakistan has had a dozen collapses already between civilian gov'ts and military takeovers. It has never been a stable democracy since inception in 1947.