| Of course he does. He's The Second Smartest Man In The Room. |
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
said Thursday that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistain could end "very soon", in unusually outspoken remarks welcomed in Islamabad but immediately downplayed by American aides.
It is the first time such a senior member of the U.S. administration has indicated there could be a definitive end to the program, which the CIA has in the past called an effective counter-terrorism weapon.
But the strikes are a major thorn in often fractious ties between Islamabad and Washington, and are officially condemned by Pakistain as a violation of illusory sovereignty and international law.
Kerry waded into the row at the tail end of a visit to Islamabad, in which he announced that Washington was reviving strategic dialogue with Pakistain for the first time after a series of crises in 2011.
Asked in an interview by state-run PTV whether the strikes could end, Kerry said: "I think the program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it."
Pressed on whether a timeline was envisaged, Kerry replied: "Well, I do. And I think the (U.S.) president has a very real timeline and we hope it's going to be very, very soon."
Pakistain's top diplomat Sartaj Aziz on Thursday demanded a halt to drone strikes that have already decreased.
But U.S. officials immediately sought to downplay Kerry's remarks.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the number of drone strikes had declined owing to the drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan and because of progress in curtailing the al-Qaeda threat.
"Today the secretary referenced the changes that we expect to take place in that program over the course of time, but there is no exact timeline to provide," she said in a statement.
Pakistain's new government led by
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
is likely to seize upon Kerry's remarks as a coup.
A front man for the foreign ministry late Thursday welcomed Kerry's remarks, saying it was Islamabad's long-standing position that they should stop.
Kerry's television remarks strayed from what he told a presser with Aziz, when he tackled complaints about drones by pointing the finger at al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-
Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
, believed to be based in Pakistain.
"An al-Qaeda leader like Al-Zawahiri is violating the illusory sovereignty of this country. And when they attack people in mosques and blow up people in villages and market places they are violating the illusory sovereignty of the country," he said.
On Afghanistan, he said he was confident that Washington and Kabul would reach a long-term security agreement that would allow American troops to remain in the country beyond 2014.
"We're making progress, we're working on it. I am personally confident that we will have an agreement," Kerry said.
Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
suspended talks on the deal in June, furious that a Taliban liaison office in Qatar appeared to have been opened as an embassy for a government in waiting.
"Let me be clear: the U.S. is drawing down not withdrawing," Kerry said.
There are concerns that a complete departure of foreign troops in late 2014 could leave Afghan government troops too weak to contain a Taliban insurgency and possibly see the country slide back into civil war.
Kerry's visit announced the resumption of so-called strategic dialogue between Pakistain and the United States, and he invited the newly elected Sharif to hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
in the autumn.
It will be the highest level talks between the two sides since January 2011, after which U.S. troops found and killed al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
in Pakistain in May 2011.
In November 2011, U.S. air strikes mistakenly killed 24 Pak soldiers along the Afghan border, leading Islamabad to shut down NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
ground supply lines for seven months.
Kerry said it was time to put the relationship on a stronger footing.
Sharif has made economic growth and resolving the energy crisis the top priority of his new administration, but Kerry also stressed that prosperity depends on doing more to eliminate hard boy havens.
"Pakistain cannot realize its full economic potential until it overcomes bully boys," Kerry told the news conference.
"The choice for Paks is clear: will the forces of violent extremism be allowed to grow more dominant, eventually overpowering the moderate majority?"
Kerry paid tribute to Sharif's election, which marked the first time that an elected civilian Pak government had completed a full term in office and handed over to another at the ballot box.
Sharif described Kerry as a "wonderful friend".
Kerry also met the outgoing
President Asif Ali Ten PercentZardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
.