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''Contradictory communications'' on Swat deal: Hillary
There are "contradictory communications" emanating from Islamabad about what it intends to achieve in the peace deal with Taliban in the restive Swat valley, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said this in Tokyo.
That's kinda the essence of dealing with Pakistain, isn't it? There's what they say one minute, what they say the next minute, what they said last week, and the truth, and never the twain shall meet.
"I want to get the whole picture of what it is they''re attempting to achieve," Clinton said in Tokyo during her first official visit after taking over as the Secretary Of State. She said US will ''thoroughly study'' the deal, before reacting to it, but expressed concern over the situation in Pakistan. "The entire situation in Pakistan is a concern," Clinton told a US television Channel in an interview, her first as the Secretary of State to a TV news channel. Clinton, who is currently travelling to Tokyo, however, said she would like to thoroughly study the peace deal between Pakistan and the Taliban militants before making any comments. "Obviously, we believe that the activity by the extremist elements in Pakistan poses a direct threat to the Government of Pakistan, as well as to the security of the US, Afghanistan and a number of other nations," she said, according to a State Department transcripts of the interview. "So before I comment on what its meaning might be, I want to be sure that we have as good an understanding of both the Pakistan Government''s intention and the actual agreed-upon language. And that I don''t have at this time, so I want to wait until we can provide that," she said.

Posted by: Fred 2009-02-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=263019