Posted on 08/19/2009 12:41:10 AM PDT by SmartInsight
U.S. President Barack Obama has started reaching out to some of Pakistan's most fervent Islamist and anti-American parties, including one that helped give rise to the Taliban, trying to improve Washington's image in the nuclear-armed state.
Obama's special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, is initiating dialogue between the United States and religious parties previous administrations had largely shunned, both sides said.
John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Bush presidency, questioned Holbrooke's timing for trying to engage Taliban sympathisers on the eve of elections in neighbouring Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are battling the hardline Islamic group.
"As a general proposition, democracy in Pakistan is fragile enough now that negotiating with people that some on the democratic side of the Pakistani spectrum would think themselves are terrorists strikes me as fairly risky," Bolton said.
"What we ought to be doing is making sure that our ties with the military are strong because the gravest risk is radical penetration of the military."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
What is Obama thinking?!
Related article:
U.S. envoy has ‘useful dialogue’ with anti-American Pakistani leader
The Islamist politician speaks warmly to Richard Holbrooke, then drives off to a demonstration against the U.S. presence in the region. The talks illustrate the Obama approach to foreign policy.
U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke met with Liaqat Baloch, a leader of Pakistan’s Jamaat-i-Islami party. About an hour later, as the bearded scholar prepared to depart for an anti-American rally across town, the veteran diplomat said that despite their disagreements, the meeting had begun “a very useful dialogue.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-holbrooke19-2009aug19,0,6301902.story
"John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Bush presidency, questioned Holbrooke's timing for trying to engage Taliban sympathisers on the eve of elections in neighbouring Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are battling the hardline Islamic group."
Holbrooke, who has been meeting mainly Pakistan's political and military establishment, called his nearly hour-long session with Baloch's Jamaat-e-Islami "the most intellectually sustained debate I've ever had in this country".
But immediately after their meeting, Baloch and his delegation took to the streets, leading a protest against U.S. policy in Pakistan and the region.
This is ridiculous.
I guess the State Dept. “Muslim outreach program,” where they show the glories of Islam in the US, must be part of this approach.
Obama has already kicked India in the teeth and now he wants to undercut the few rational minds there are left in Pakistan. And who cares about our troops in Afghanistan?
.
Read ‘Religion’ and ‘Islam’ at ‘The Obama File’
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[[What is Obama thinking?!]]
That he’s reaching out to his kin?
?
/shaking head
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