Posted on 09/26/2006 7:06:40 PM PDT by blam
Bush hosts dinner to end bitter feud between key allies in war on terror
By Francis Harris in Washington and Harry Mount in New York
(Filed: 27/09/2006)
President George W Bush was struggling last night to calm fierce and increasingly personal exchanges between the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan, key allies in America's war on terror.
With tensions rising between President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Mr Bush asked both to dinner at the White House this evening in an attempt to help defuse a damaging row.
Afghanistan President Karzai with US President Bush
"You know, it will be interesting for me to watch the body language of these two leaders to determine how tense things are," Mr Bush said with a smile, after a meeting with Mr Karzai.
But the American leader denied that the hostile exchanges were harming attempts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
The Saudi terrorist is believed to be hiding in the lawless mountain borderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"It's in President Karzai's interest to see bin Laden brought to justice. It is in President Musharraf's interest to see bin Laden brought to justice. Our interests coincide," Mr Bush said.
The simmering row erupted again last week when the two presidents arrived in New York to attend the UN general assembly.
Both have accused the other of trying to shift the blame for their country's problems.
Gen Musharraf, who has been rigorously promoting an autobiography which has just gone on sale in the US, accused Mr Karzai of ignorance about what was happening in Afghanistan.
"The sooner that President Karzai understands his own country, the better," the general said.
The Pakistani leader also suggested that Afghanistan's problems were less to do with the Taliban than with the "alienated" Pashtun majority.
Then he claimed that the Afghan leader had been supplying him with stale intelligence.
"Intelligence has to be immediate to be useful," Gen Musharraf said. But Mr Karzai has given as good as he got, accusing the Pakistanis of harbouring the terrorists attacking British, Afghan and allied forces in southern Afghanistan.
He also pointed to the role of Islamic religious schools, or madrassas, in Pakistan.
"There will not be an end to terrorism unless we remove the sources of hatred in madrassas and the training grounds," he said.
The two men regularly refer to one another as "brothers", though their behaviour is far from fraternal.
Both face serious internal problems, particularly a shortage of cash to combat poverty. Aid agencies say this fuels religious fanaticism.
Mr Karzai told Americans that his country would be "heaven in less than a year" if it had the £160 billion the US had spent in Iraq.
The row between the allies worsened just as the White House came under fierce domestic attack for a leaked US intelligence document which suggested that the war in Iraq was inspiring ever more terrorism.
Mr Bush said such a claim was "naïve" and announced that parts of the document would be declassified.
"You read it for yourself. Stop all this speculation."
An almost evenhanded article from the british press. I'm floored.
I saw that whole thing, Karzai jokingly said "I'll Behave" and everyone in the room erupted in laughter, especially the President. It was a light and frivolous moment!
Typical AP/Reuters B.S.!
OMG. There is no detectable bias in this article.
Actually, the thing about the Iraq money is a farce. That was a reporter's idea and this article has used it totally out of context....just as the reporter did. What I would label as "cute".
I said "almost" evenhanded. It is so superior to anything I've seen lately, I was shocked.
If this had been an Al Rueters story it would have been dripping with the liberal slant.
The UK Telegraph, which used to be slightly right of center, is no stranger these days to leftist slant.
Excellent idea.
Exactly. And another party shares the blame, because most of the Pakistani madrassas are funded by the Saudis.
The Telegraph is perhaps the most estimable press still extant ... solid Tory stuff!
With all due respect President Karzai, never commit. ;-)
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