Banner Advertise

Thursday, October 29, 2009

[chottala.com] Clinton has tough sell in Pakistan



 
Related Videos:
Hillary Clinton on Pakistan
 
U.S. Condemned For Pre-Emptive Use Of Hillary Clinton Against Pakistan
 
Innocent civilians across the impact zone are picking up the pieces after Secretary of State Clinton's
tedious visits to their farms, cultural ...
Full Episode Newsroom 123,776 views TheOnion
 
Related images:
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, is escorted by Pakistani Rangers at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, 29 Oct 2009
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, is escorted by Pakistani Rangers at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, 29 Oct 2009
 
Clinton has attempted to challenge anti-Americanism during her three-day visit [AFP]

Hillary Clinton in Lahore

Hillary Clinton in Lahore. Manmohan Singh's signal that India is prepared to restart Pakistan talks was timed to coincide with her visit

Hillary Clinton in Lahore
Mrs Clinton has been trying to tackle anti-US feelings

 

Clinton has tough sell in Pakistan

Hillary Clinton, with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, greets the press today at the Moghul-era Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.
Hillary Clinton, with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, greets the press today at the Moghul-era Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. | Photo by Laura Rozen

LAHORE, Pakistan — Hillary Clinton would have been hard-pressed to find a more potentially receptive audience anywhere in Pakistan than the leafy campus of the co-ed Government College University, where she held a town hall for students on Thursday.

But while the university students seemed appreciative and excited to be in the presence of the U.S. secretary of state, and formed a long line to ask her questions, there were few signs that Clinton's message — that the U.S. seeks to support and not dictate Pakistani efforts to strengthen democracy, improve the economy and fight radicalism and terror — was getting through.

"Why should we believe that Americans are sincere and that they will not betray us like they did in the past?" one young female student, Shanze' Sarfraz Cheema, asked Clinton.

Clinton acknowledged American failures of the past, including largely abandoning Pakistan after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Bush-era support for Pakistan's former military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. She said this time would be different, in part because the Obama administration supported Pakistan's civil society and democratic institutions rather than individual rulers or personalities.

Now, she said, the U.S. is listening to Pakistanis, and Pakistan increasingly shares America's perception of the threat posed to it by the radical jihadi groups it is now fighting in a full-scale war in South Waziristan. That should be the focus, she said, not the past.

"It's difficult to look forward if you are always looking in the rearview mirror," Clinton said. "We have a lot more in common than divides us."

But despite reiterating her core message to countless Pakistani audiences — official and civic and made up of businessmen, students and women — over the past two days, there are few signs that U.S. efforts are chipping away at a basic Pakistani mistrust of U.S. intentions or constancy.

Cheema, for example, said she wasn't satisfied with Clinton's diplomatic answers, and neither were many of her friends.

Clinton "is well-spoken and did not say anything bad, but as she was giving diplomatic answers, it did not satisfy my curiosity, and many of the students I talked to felt the same way," Cheema said in an e-mail.

"Most of the Pakistanis like the American [people], but they do not like the American government; and they don't trust them because [of] the past," she said. "Winning the trust back is next to impossible. The only way any Pakistani could trust the Americans being sincere this time is if we get a written agreement that this is going to be a long-term deal, where we won't just be giving aid but would be helped to improve our economy, [and] especially be given a chance to do trade."

With an exhausting itinerary of more than two dozen appearances and meetings in some 50 hours on the ground in Pakistan this week, Clinton has been a disciplined, patient and mostly tireless frontwoman for the Obama administration's efforts to try to shift Pakistanis' perceptions of the U.S. in their region. But the trip has tested even Clinton's truly impressive stamina and has offered many sobering examples of just how long and hard a slog such an effort will be.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28914.html

An unexpected blast from Hillary Clinton

On a diplomatic tour, blunt talk on terrorism

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns-dc-clinton-pakistan,0,7802437.story

Related Images

BBC News
Aljazeera.net
Voice of Americ...
BBC News
AFP
New York Times
Washington Post
CNN Internation...
BBC News


__._,_.___


[* Moderator's Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___