Rice goes to Pakistan on anti-Taliban mission
Islamabad, Jun 27: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to arrive in Islamabad later today on a mission to make Pakistan and Afghanistan stop their bickering and work better together to fight the Taliban.
Rice's return to the region, just three months after accompanying President George W Bush there, comes at a time when both the Afghan and Pakistani leaders are suffering from slumps in popularity and their credibility is being questioned abroad.
Rice praised both allies for their efforts in the war on terrorism in remarks to reporters today while en route to Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf, but knows she has her work cut out.
''The piece we need to work harder on is the cooperation that is US-Afghan-Pakistani in that region,'' Rice said ahead of a refuelling stop in Scotland.
''We want (in Pakistan) to talk about what more we can do.'' The level of violence in Afghanistan, especially in the south, is now the worst it has been since the Taliban were driven from power in 2001, with over 1,100 people killed since January.
Two years ago, Afghanistan was being held up as a US foreign policy success story following President Hamid Karzai's election triumph in late 2004.
Now, with elections for the US Senate and House of Representatives looming, Bush is under fire from Democrats for failing to subdue the Taliban threat.
The insurgency and general levels of violence have fuelled disenchantment among Afghans, who already feel short-changed despite billions of dollars of aid money spent in their country.
Anti-US, anti-Karzai riots rocked Kabul earlier this month, and prompted observers to reassess progress made in Afghanistan.
DIFFICULT JOB
Rice defended Karzai, dismissing a Washington Post report that he was losing support at home and from foreign governments. ''This is a man who is doing an extremely difficult job well,'' she said. To make matters worse, Karzai and Musharraf have been at loggerheads over Afghan accusations that the insurgency is being run from Pakistani territory, and Pakistan is worried by Kabul's burgeoning friendship with its old rival, India.
The United States, which has close to 23,000 troops in Afghanistan, has also said Taliban are coming from Pakistan.
The friction comes as the US-led coalition prepares to transfer command of southern Afghanistan to a NATO-led peacekeepers at the end of July.
The Taliban offensive is seen as an attempt to weaken the resolve among members of the 26-member alliance, as it raises troop levels from 9,000 to close to 17,000.
But Pakistan can point to its own deployment of 80,000 troops on the frontier to stem cross-border movement.
There are fears in Pakistan that the military strategy could backfire, and create more problems among tribes on the border.
Yesterday, a pro-Taliban suicide car bomber killed at least six paramilitary troops in North Waziristan, where Pakistani forces have been fighting al Qaeda guerrillas and their local allies for months.
Overt US pressure on Musharraf ahead of general elections due late next year could undermine a leader who is still struggling to establish his democratic credentials after coming to power in a military coup almost seven years ago.
Bush's readiness to offer India help with its nuclear civilian programme while denying it to Musharraf last March queered relations, but Rice is expected to give short shrift to more Pakistani pleas for a rethink.
''Rice may convey the mood of the US Congress to President Musharraf, which is not very comfortable in relation to the nuclear issue and the war on terror,'' Ayesha Siddika Agha, an independent defence and security analyst said.
REUTERS