On Monday, President Bush praised Pakistani PM Yousaf Raza Gilani “for his commitment to their joint battle against extremists.” According to the Associated Press, “Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani strolled before the assembled media on the South Lawn after a private Oval Office meeting. Appearing upbeat, they sought to publicly ensure their constituencies that the U.S-Pakistan bond is tight and intact despite tensions between Washington and Islamabad.”
This is Gilani’s first visit to the United States since his PM appointment following the February 2008 elections. Reuters, in its coverage, noted Monday’s meeting came just “hours after a suspected U.S. missile strike killed six people, possibly including an Al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, in a Pakistani tribal region.” The news agency added, “The strike underscored U.S.-Pakistani tensions that Gilani’s visit was intended to dispel…”
After watching Bush’s statements to the press Monday, I realized we obviously weren’t going to hear the uncensored, no-holds-barred details of his and Gilani’s talks. Although Gilani said the Pakistani government was “committed to fight against those extremists and terrorists who are destroying and making the world not safe,” he stopped short of making any concrete public promises about how Pakistan would deal with militants in its border areas, noted Reuters. The U.S. President was equally vague, calling today’s session “constructive,” predictably asserting, “After all…Pakistan is a strong ally and a vibrant democracy.”
The reality of most official state visits is that the public only hears a regurgitation of official rhetoric. Politicians often “play nice” for the camera, summoning images of pixies, fairy dust, and prancing hand-in-hand through fields of daisies. Although Washington is no doubt impatient with Pakistan’s new government, Bush seemed to play extra nice today, particularly when he added almost as a sidenote, “Of course we talked about the common threat we face…extremists who are very dangerous people.” Somehow I think the more gritty details played out during the off-the-record meetings. [See the video below]:
Bush is a highly unpopular, lameduck president. He is still relevant, but only till January of 2009. It’s important for Pakistanis and the world to start paying attention to Barak Obama with a substatial lead over John McCain. You talk about one missile strike last night? Well, be prepared for massive bombing and potential invasion of FATA, unless Gillani/Zardari get serious about the Taliban launching attacks on NATO troops from FATA. Obama is going to be a danger to Pakistan and world peace. He is a man of little experience and big ideas with almost no track record to go by.
[...] pixies, president bush, regurgitation, reuters, vibrant democracy, yousaf, yousuf Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan This post [...]
Riaz,
While I generally agree with your viewpoints, I have to respectfully disagree with your views on Obama. Yes, he has taken a hardline stance on Pakistan’s policy in the FATA, but he has ALSO been involved in legislation related to tripling Pakistan’s nonmilitary aid. He has also specifically recognized Pakistan’s sovereignty and the rising anti-American sentiment in the country. He is aware of the issues that have led to anti-U.S. perceptions in the first place. He advocates for more accountability from the Pakistani government, who has very much had a blank cheque from U.S. on military aid.
Furthermore, you noted that Obama is going to be “a danger to Pakistan and world peace,” based on your reasoning that “he is a man of little experience and big ideas.” However, that same argument could apply to why Obama could be a positive influence on U.S.-Pakistan relations. We don’t have enough precedent to make grand conjectures on how the presumptive Democratic nominee may or may not act when he may or may not be elected to the U.S. presidency. We do know that he will be surrounded by a Democratic administration that would undoubtedly temper hardline attitudes towards countries like ours. He will also surround himself with officials who have far more foreign policy experience than he does. I have no doubt about that.
I think our Prime Minister doesn’t posses that personality of a Prime Minister. I mean we compare our PMs with Benazir and I don’t see remote resemblence. I saw him yesterday on TV in a press conference with Bush and he was a drag. It seems to me that he is scared of something even when he is in Pakistan. His address to the nation was horrible. He lacks confidence to address large crowds and shy of attention. He couldn’t even speak properly. Its a shame and very unfortunate that Pakistan lost leader like Benazir. He lacks charisma and PM personality.
[...] appeared rosy on the surface, with both governments exchanging pleasantries in front of reporters, [see related CHUP post], the Post noted, “there was little indication that tensions over their respective [...]
@ The two ninkampoops in one photo is hilarious
who is ally of who ??
[...] Link to the original site Author: wtfpakistan Time: Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 4:51 am Category: Pakistan Comments: You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Navigation: « The Tug-of-War over the Inter-Services Intelligence [...]
In the video Gilani is definitely CHUP! ahahahahahaha
[...] Link to the original site Author: wtfpakistan Time: Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 4:29 am Category: Pakistan Comments: You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Navigation: « The Tug-of-War over the Inter-Services Intelligence [...]
[...] Link to the original site Author: wtfpakistan Time: Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 4:28 am Category: Pakistan Comments: You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Navigation: « The Tug-of-War over the Inter-Services Intelligence [...]
[...] appeared rosy on the surface, with both governments exchanging pleasantries in front of reporters, [see related CHUP post], the Post noted, “there was little indication that tensions over their respective [...]