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US presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke on Friday voiced the Obama administration’s full confidence in the ability of the democratic Pakistani government to deliver services for its people as he rubbished media reports implying that Washington might be concerned about the performance of the elected government to the point of seeking change. Referring to stories that spoke of the Obama administration considering the civilian government weak, Holbrooke, special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said, ‘I don’t understand these stories.’ This is journalistic garbage. This is journalistic gobbledygook. It’s a story being hyped by journalists,’ he added, when asked to comment on...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The administration of US President Barack Obama is reaching out to former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the chief rival of President Asif Ali Zardari, in hopes to find a way to strengthen the country's government, The New York Times reported. Sharif, who served as Pakistan's prime minister twice during the 1990s, represents the Pakistan Muslim League-N. Citing unnamed administration officials, the newspaper said on its website that because of his ties to Islamists, the US government has long held Sharif at arm?s length. But now some Obama administration officials say those ties could be useful in...

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is "very alarmed by the growing extremist threat in Pakistan and remains frustrated particularly by the political leadership's inability to confront that threat," his spokesman said Monday.

All I can say is: Imagine if a Republican were in the White House. Even with President Obama in charge, some leftist members of Congress are challenging the need to build up our forces in Afghanistan. “I’ve got the sinking feeling we are getting sucked into something we will never get out of,” says Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. But such qualms are unlikely to have much practical impact because the leadership of Congress is solidly behind the war effort.

NEW YORK: Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani has urged the international community to help Pakistan in its efforts to prevent the Talibanisation of the country's Swat and Buner regions instead of giving lectures, the Online news agency reported. "We have shared our concerns with the US and do not want Talibanisation in Pakistan at all", Haqqani said. The Swat deal aims to establish peace besides loss of human lives, he said, and made it clear that the deal did not mean, "We have surrendered to militants". Haqqani said: "If the militants did not abide by the deal than...

....The sources assert that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen during his recent visit had conveyed a message to Pakistan’s political and military leadership that it was high time that the Pakistani government acted against these militants. He also made it clear that if Pakistan government showed any reluctance the US itself would launch air strikes against the hideouts of these al-Qaeda militants. According to these sources, Admiral Mullen warned that US could use daisy-cutters to crush these elements in what he called a ‘decisive operation,’ which could start any time.

As the U.S. administration and its allies are devising a new strategy for the next steps in Afghanistan, the jihadists have already begun their next move — but this time it’s inside Pakistan. As I’ve written over the past few months, we need to look at Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as one regional battlefield where the “other side” is coordinating strategically, acting methodically and for sure beating the international coalition in speed. If Washington and its allies fail to see the big picture in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which unfortunately may be the case now, the...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Until more troops arrive later this spring, the U.S. will not have enough forces in the south of Afghanistan to hold those areas from insurgents, a senior U.S. military commander said Wednesday. The help may come just in time. The frequency of insurgent attacks is expected to increase as the poppy harvest season concludes in early May. "We have the ability to clear the enemy just about anywhere we need to. What we’ve had an inability to do here is hold what we’ve cleared. These additional troops allow us to hold," said Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker,...

As more U.S. troops head for Afghanistan, the military situation there will "get worse before it gets better," Gen. David Petraeus said Tuesday. His remarks, made at a forum at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, echoed warnings he made before the 2007 "surge" of U.S. troops credited in part with eventually calming violence in Iraq. Petraeus, who heads U.S. Central Command and oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, cited the revived Taliban and the rise in drug trafficking, which supports militants. "We are going to make progress, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better,"...

Kerry: Administration lacks 'real strategy' for handling Pakistan Kerry says no Adequate Plan for Pakistan By DENNIS DILANIAN April 22, 2009 WASHINGTON  Just back from a visit to Pakistan, Sen. John Kerry says the Obama administration's plan for that volatile country, rolled out last month with great fanfare, "is not a real strategy." "Pakistan is in a moment of peril," Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a session with USA TODAY reporters and editors. "And I believe there is not in place yet an adequate policy or plan to deal with it." In...

With extremist elements gaining ground every passing day, Pakistan is in an imminent danger of disintegrating into a fiefdom controlled by Islamist warlords, having "disastrous" implications, a media report has said. "It's a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution," an unnamed intelligence official with long experience in Pakistan was quoted as saying by the McClatchy newspaper. There is little hope to prevent nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into a fiefdom controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, who would then pose a far greater threat to the US than those in Afghanistan, intelligence officials keeping a close...

Barack Obama had better prepare himself for just as much skepticism on Afghanistan at home as he got from Europe. Obama wants $75 billion more allocated for the efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but his own caucus in the House appears to be balking. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) called Obama’s plans “embarrassingly naive”, and may put Obama in Bush territory on the wars — looking for Republican cover (via Jim Geraghty):

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2009 – Building trust between the United States and Pakistan tops the agenda as the two countries and Afghanistan move forward, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said following meetings in Pakistan’s capital city yesterday. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen and Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad. The three spoke at a news conference following their meeting. “This commitment is a long-term commitment that I hope will generate a surplus of trust, as that is absolutely vital,” Mullen said. U.S....

U.S. envoys met with Pakistani leaders on Tuesday to ensure that the $7.5 billion that President Obama plans to send their way over the next five years will be used to achieve common goals in the fight against extremism. But according to a Pakistani newspaper, regional envoy Richard Holbrooke and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen came up empty-handed and received a "rude shock" when a proposal for joint operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the volatile tribal regions was rejected.

So much for Obama’s promise to repair our alliances! Report: Pakistan rejects U.S. plan, wants drones By Bridget JohnsonThe Hill April 8, 2009U.S. envoys met with Pakistani leaders on Tuesday to ensure that the $7.5 billion that President Obama plans to send their way over the next five years will be used to achieve common goals in the fight against extremism.But according to a Pakistani newspaper, regional envoy Richard Holbrooke and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen came up empty-handed and received a “rude shock” when a proposal for joint operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the volatile...

US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke is supposed to have had a brief, but “cordial” encounter with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahdi Akhunzadeh at the Afghanistan conference in The Hague last week ... The two men agreed to “stay in touch,” Clinton added......Oddly enough, Holbrooke suggests that the [1994] policy of “allowing” covert arms shipments would somehow diminish the Bosnian government’s reliance upon support from Muslim nations. There is in fact evidence that other countries also made covert arms shipments to the Bosnian government. Schindler points, in particular,...

The US President has to explain why he is sending more troops into Afghanistan and his Nato allies won't Fugedaboutit. For those of you who don't speak New York, that's "forget about it", the most emphatic of the negatives in a New Yorker's repertoire. But it has nothing like the power to influence events that the "non", "nein" and "no" that capped Barack Obama's tour of Europe have. It is one thing to attract a crowd in Berlin, a city in which politicians have historically been successful in attracting mass audiences, or to wow several hundred adolescents in Strasbourg and...

In Afghanistan, President Obama has pledged to “wage the war that has to be won.” To accomplish that, the administration will unveil a new strategy in April. Recently the doughty Sen. Joseph Lieberman published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, proposing one such strategy. What is needed, Lieberman opined, is for someone to take charge, for additional troops to be sent into action, and for the U.S. Congress to sustain a nation-building strategy. This is all good advice, but implementing it will be exceedingly tricky. First of all, it is not clear who will be in charge. Obama has...

Weekly StandardNY TimesThe recent media coverage in Pakistan regarding the film of a young woman being beaten by religious fanatics of Swat district has shocked and angered many around the world and within Pakistan. As a nation, Pakistan is a study in modernity and backwardness existing side by side, and coming into contact and conflict. The plight of the woman is one where the Taliban have come to dominate her area, and she was beaten for being in unescorted by a male family member while in the presence of an unrelated male. Of course, this was after she refused the...

Pakistan's leaders have told visiting US envoy Richard Holbrooke there must be trust between the nations as "nothing else will work". Pakistan's foreign minister also said there was a "gap" in opinion over US drone attacks on Pakistani territory. Mr Holbrooke has met President Asif Ali Zardari, who told him that Pakistan was "battling for its own survival". Mr Zardari said Pakistan needed "unconditional support" to fight terrorism and extremism. Mr Holbrooke, the joint US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Islamabad after talks with Afghan...