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Bush, Musharraf renew anti-terror alliance
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-05 08:36
President Bush praised Pakistan's fight against terrorism as unfaltering
Saturday but turned down an appeal for the same civilian nuclear help the United
States intends to give India, this country's archrival.
US President George
W. Bush, right, shakes hands with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
after Bush made a speech before the start of a State Dinner in Islamabad,
Pakistan, Saturday, March 4, 2006.
[AP] |
"Pakistan and India are different
countries with different needs and different histories," Bush said at a news
conference with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The White House said that was a
diplomatic way of saying no, at least not now.
The day Bush visited the capital, pro-Taliban tribesmen and Pakistani
security forces engaged in a fierce battle near the Afghan border. Dozens of
militants were reported killed in the clash when the military struck at a
location that government officials believed the militants had used as a
hide-out.
Bush and Musharraf renewed their war-on-terror alliance in a news conference
at the presidential palace, in front of floating pots of flowers in a reflecting
pool and quacking ducks. Fears of terrorism brought a tight security clamp and
limited Bush's movements to the palace and the heavily guarded diplomatic
compound that houses the U.S. Embassy.
"We're not going to back down in the face of these killers," Bush said two
days after a suicide car-bombing killed an American diplomat in the southern
city of Karachi. "We'll fight this war and we will win this war together."
After visiting three nations in South Asia, Bush was returning home to a
stack of political problems 錕斤拷 from bad approval ratings and embarrassing
Hurricane Katrina videos to lingering questions about a domestic surveillance
program and the takeover of some American port operations by an Arab company. He
departed the country in much the same way he arrived 錕斤拷 after dark aboard Air
Force One, with its lights off and window shades drawn.
Bush was buoyant about the trip, saying his stops in Afghanistan, India and
Pakistan had enhanced U.S. security.
But the journey could cause some headaches for the president. The visits to
Afghanistan and Pakistan served as reminders that Osama bin Laden remained at
large 4 1/2 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The nuclear
assistance deal with India raised questions about rewarding a country that had
defied world pleas not to build nuclear weapons, and must be approved by a
skeptical Congress.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Indian agreement came up in
Bush's talks with Musharraf but that the time was not right for such a deal with
Pakistan. Acknowledging that Pakistan has energy needs, Rice said "we can
address energy needs on different terms."
Two years ago Pakistan's leading nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, was exposed as
the chief of a lucrative black market in weapons technology that supplied Iran,
Libya and North Korea. The government denied any knowledge of his proliferation
activities.
Anti-American sentiment runs deep in this Muslim county, inflamed by the
U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a U.S. missile strike in January in a
village in northwestern Pakistan that killed 13 residents. It had been intended
to kill al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, but he apparently wasn't
there.
A day after anti-U.S. protests across Pakistan, police detained former
cricket star Imran Khan at his Islamabad home and arrested dozens of supporters
from his opposition party to block a rally against Bush's visit.
At the news conference, Bush said America's partnership with Pakistan "begins
with close cooperation in the war on terror."
Bush said it was imperative to hunt down al-Qaida operatives and suggested
Pakistan could do a better job sharing intelligence. "The key thing is that,
one, it be actionable, and two, it be shared on a real-time basis."
"Part of my mission today was to determine whether or not the president is as
committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice,
and he is," Bush said.
Musharraf indicated Pakistan has had problems translating strategy into
action. "If at all there are slippages, it is possible in the implementation
part," he said. But, he said, "We are moving forward toward to delivering, and
we will succeed."
Bush stopped short of criticizing Musharraf's record on democracy even though
the military leader has reneged on a promise to give up his position as army
chief, the main source of his power, by the end of 2004.
"We spent a lot of time discussing democracy in Pakistan, and I believe
democracy is Pakistan's future," Bush said, standing alongside Musharraf, who
took power in a 1999 coup.
Musharraf defended his efforts at democratic reform since taking power,
saying Pakistan now had an elected parliament, had empowered women and had given
power to local governments.
"Let me assure you that democracy will prevail," Musharraf said.
He changed the constitution with the backing of parliament to allow him to
hold both the presidency and the military post until 2007.
"Beyond 2007, this is an issue that has to be addressed and according to the
constitution of Pakistan, and I will never violate the constitution," said the
Pakistani leader, repeating similar reassurances made in the past.
Bush sought to show America's compassionate side by calling attention to the
more than $500 million donated to Pakistan after a devastating earthquake in
October killed 86,000 people and left more than 2 million homeless.
"It is staggering what the people of this country have been through," said
Bush, who visited with earthquake victims, including orphans, widows, women in
wheelchairs and children who lost limbs. "We're proud to help."
Bush also talked with Musharraf about complaints that Pakistan isn't doing
enough to stop the infiltration of militants into India and Pakistan. Pakistan's
Foreign Minister, Khursheed Kasuri, said Pakistan was trying to stop the
infiltrators but that it was a big challenge 錕斤拷 much as 130,000 U.S. forces are
trying to stop violence in Iraq but can't prevent all the bloodshed.
"Does it mean you are not serious? Of course you are serious. It tells you
the level of challenge," the minister said.
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