President Obama Will Travel To Pakistan Next Year

[Turborama]

Source: NYT

WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Wednesday that he would visit Pakistan next year for the first time since taking office as his administration tries to bolster rocky relations with perhaps its most important partner in the war against Al Qaeda and its allies.

Mr. Obama joined a meeting between his top advisers and visiting Pakistani officials for 45 minutes to discuss mutual issues and assuage concern about his trip to India in November. “The president explained that he would not be stopping in Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, and committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011,” the White House said in a statement.

The president’s meeting came as part of a multiday “strategic dialogue” between senior American and Pakistani officials, including the military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Relations between the countries have been strained lately after a helicopter strike on a border post killed several Pakistani soldiers and Islamabad responded by temporarily closing a critical supply line to Afghanistan.

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The meetings, which continue through Friday, will also address a possible multiyear security pact and flood reconstruction assistance. “We see this as an opportunity to move beyond the recent period and strengthen our relationship in a number of areas,” said a senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/world/asia/21prexy.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

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Pakistan welcomes Obama visit

AFP

WASHINGTON — Pakistan on Wednesday praised US President Barack Obama for saying he would visit the country next year, calling it a sign of commitment between the troubled war partners.

Obama, meeting with a senior Pakistani delegation, said he would not visit when he travels to neighboring India next month. But he committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011 and invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, speaking afterward at the Brookings Institution think-tank, called his meeting with Obama "very satisfying."

"The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place," Qureshi said.

Full article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hXYVx40GK136yOTf8M48_2Ec1zlg?docId=CNG.be1430cf7ec438b63479d0e3742332c8.cd1

[iandhr]

1. The message is should be

Your intelligence services are supporting the Taliban and other terrorist organizations like the people who attack Mumbai. Clean up your act or India will clean it up for you