Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 27, 2008 "Economic empowerment" is the key to fighting extremism, the new prime minister told them.
By Lauren Frayer, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Senior U.S. envoys traveled to Pakistan's volatile North West Frontier province yesterday to drop in on U.S.-funded border guards who are struggling to secure an area where Osama bin Laden may be hiding.
But this week's visit to Pakistan by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher stirred ire among some who believe the trip was ill-timed and betrayed Washington meddling.
The two arrived in Islamabad, the capital, on Tuesday, just as Yousaf Raza Gilani was taking his oath as prime minister. He leads Pakistan's first autonomous civilian government in nearly a decade, one that has pledged to slash the powers of President Pervez Musharraf and review his U.S.-backed counterterrorism policies.
"We have to fight terrorism," Gilani told the Americans at his home last night. "We will confront it with complete determination."
But "the world community has to do more in order to develop a collective approach," Gilani said.
Washington is scrambling to build bridges with Pakistan's new leaders, the foes of longtime U.S. ally Musharraf, whose loyalists were trounced in parliamentary elections last month. Western nations are seeking reassurance that the new coalition government will keep the pressure on extremist groups using Pakistan's wild frontier as a springboard for attacks in Afghanistan and beyond.
The two diplomats yesterday traveled to "security and development sites" in the North West Frontier province, including a mountaintop paramilitary base at the Khyber Pass, and met with Pakistani government and army officials, the U.S. Embassy said.
"Economic empowerment of the people in bordering areas near Afghanistan is the key to addressing the issue of extremism in that region," Gilani told the Americans after their trip.
While the embassy gave few details, local TV channels said the pair met with tribal leaders and with commanders of the Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that Washington plans to train and equip to fight extremists linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
March 27, 2008 "Economic empowerment" is the key to fighting extremism, the new prime minister told them.
By Lauren Frayer, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Senior U.S. envoys traveled to Pakistan's volatile North West Frontier province yesterday to drop in on U.S.-funded border guards who are struggling to secure an area where Osama bin Laden may be hiding.
But this week's visit to Pakistan by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher stirred ire among some who believe the trip was ill-timed and betrayed Washington meddling.
The two arrived in Islamabad, the capital, on Tuesday, just as Yousaf Raza Gilani was taking his oath as prime minister. He leads Pakistan's first autonomous civilian government in nearly a decade, one that has pledged to slash the powers of President Pervez Musharraf and review his U.S.-backed counterterrorism policies.
"We have to fight terrorism," Gilani told the Americans at his home last night. "We will confront it with complete determination."
But "the world community has to do more in order to develop a collective approach," Gilani said.
Washington is scrambling to build bridges with Pakistan's new leaders, the foes of longtime U.S. ally Musharraf, whose loyalists were trounced in parliamentary elections last month. Western nations are seeking reassurance that the new coalition government will keep the pressure on extremist groups using Pakistan's wild frontier as a springboard for attacks in Afghanistan and beyond.
The two diplomats yesterday traveled to "security and development sites" in the North West Frontier province, including a mountaintop paramilitary base at the Khyber Pass, and met with Pakistani government and army officials, the U.S. Embassy said.
"Economic empowerment of the people in bordering areas near Afghanistan is the key to addressing the issue of extremism in that region," Gilani told the Americans after their trip.
While the embassy gave few details, local TV channels said the pair met with tribal leaders and with commanders of the Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that Washington plans to train and equip to fight extremists linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.