Mission Almost Impossible

[unhappycamper]

Mission Almost Impossible
Le Soleil, Canada
By René Beaudin
Translated By Alec Sprague
November 1, 2009

(Québec) "With a friend like that, who needs enemies?" Hillary Clinton must have said to herself after her first visit to Pakistan this past weekend.

The U.S. Secretary of State in fact committed herself to an almost impossible mission, to reestablish confidence between her country and Pakistan. Pakistan is her principal ally in the war in Afghanistan, a war that has been conducted in part on their territory. This was, say some, the most painful and difficult trip by Clinton since she took up her position directing American diplomacy. In fact, the situation deteriorates and gets more complicated almost daily for the two allies.

When Clinton voiced her skepticism of the inability of the Pakistani government to locate the leaders of Al-Qaeda in their territory, it gave away something of her continued impatience. Clinton is apparently the highest member of the United States Government to speak out openly about American frustrations with Pakistan since September 11, 2001.

She almost accused her hosts of "complicity" - without actually saying the word - with the sworn enemy of the United States over the past eight years. This is at any rate what the media extracted from her speech. One could, if necessary, forgive the Pakistanis who are in power their relations with the Taliban (at one time the Afghans and Pakistanis were like brothers and sisters) but not their relations with Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

More than ever, Clinton now sees clearly the trap in which the United States risks getting stuck with Pakistan in the next days and weeks, when Barack Obama completely subscribes to the strategy of sending reinforcements to Afghanistan.


Rest of article at: http://watchingamerica.com/News/36681/mission-almost-impossible/