Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CNN
March 23, 2009
The Situation Room (CNN), 6:00 PM
WOLF BLITZER: Meanwhile, we're on the trail of the CIA's top spy right now. Leon Panetta raising questions about where he's visited and leaving behind pictures you weren't necessarily supposed to see.
Let's go straight to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
She's got the details -- Barbara, what happened?
BARBARA STARR: Well, you know, Wolf, the CIA never likes to talk about what it's up to. But the cameras caught the CIA director in a place Americans didn't know he was.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STARR: Extraordinary pictures of a closed door meeting the CIA did not want made public -- CIA director Leon Panetta and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari talking in Islamabad about the latest threats.
The CIA won't comment on the meeting. But Monday, another threat to the fragile regime -- a police station bombed. And it's just days before President Obama unveils his strategy to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
JOHN NAGL, CENTER FOR NEW AMERICAN SECURITY: The Pakistan side of the border matters so very much because Pakistan suffers from the Taliban insurgency, Al Qaeda central, a very weak central government -- democratically elected government and nuclear weapons that are not as secure as we'd like them to be.
STARR: The U.S. intelligence community is worried more than ever about growing cooperation between Al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban groups. U.S. sources confirmed to counter that, as part of the new strategy, the administration is offering Pakistan more intelligence sharing and military training.
The long border between the two countries is increasingly unsettled, especially in the south, where insurgents are crossing into Afghanistan after finding northern routes shut down. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Barbara, could this complicate the president's emerging strategy on Afghanistan?
STARR: Oh, absolutely, Wolf. You know, we expect to see that new Afghan strategy by the end of the week. But what has become clear to the administration is they cannot succeed in Afghanistan unless they can do something back across the border in Pakistan. And that is going to be very tough going -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Barbara, thank you.
March 23, 2009
The Situation Room (CNN), 6:00 PM
WOLF BLITZER: Meanwhile, we're on the trail of the CIA's top spy right now. Leon Panetta raising questions about where he's visited and leaving behind pictures you weren't necessarily supposed to see.
Let's go straight to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
She's got the details -- Barbara, what happened?
BARBARA STARR: Well, you know, Wolf, the CIA never likes to talk about what it's up to. But the cameras caught the CIA director in a place Americans didn't know he was.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STARR: Extraordinary pictures of a closed door meeting the CIA did not want made public -- CIA director Leon Panetta and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari talking in Islamabad about the latest threats.
The CIA won't comment on the meeting. But Monday, another threat to the fragile regime -- a police station bombed. And it's just days before President Obama unveils his strategy to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
JOHN NAGL, CENTER FOR NEW AMERICAN SECURITY: The Pakistan side of the border matters so very much because Pakistan suffers from the Taliban insurgency, Al Qaeda central, a very weak central government -- democratically elected government and nuclear weapons that are not as secure as we'd like them to be.
STARR: The U.S. intelligence community is worried more than ever about growing cooperation between Al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban groups. U.S. sources confirmed to counter that, as part of the new strategy, the administration is offering Pakistan more intelligence sharing and military training.
The long border between the two countries is increasingly unsettled, especially in the south, where insurgents are crossing into Afghanistan after finding northern routes shut down. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Barbara, could this complicate the president's emerging strategy on Afghanistan?
STARR: Oh, absolutely, Wolf. You know, we expect to see that new Afghan strategy by the end of the week. But what has become clear to the administration is they cannot succeed in Afghanistan unless they can do something back across the border in Pakistan. And that is going to be very tough going -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Barbara, thank you.