'US-Pak-Afghan summit did not produce any new solution'

Washington, May 11 (ANI): The trilateral Afghan-Pak-US summit did not produce any new solutions or significant policy initiatives for the ongoing conflict with al-Qaeda and the Taliban, according to a leading US based news daily.

The Washington Times warned the Obama Administration against repeating President Kennedy's mistake of ordering a military coup in Vietnam and then getting sucked into the war in Pakistan.

In an editorial, the newspaper said Obama made the US relationship with Pakistan needlessly complicated with his statements at his April 29 press conference that implied he would prefer a return to military rule in Islamabad. This, at least, was the impression many in Pakistan took away.

"The trilateral summit did not produce any new solutions or significant policy initiatives for the ongoing conflict with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Thus far, there is little discernible difference between the Obama and the Bush Administration policies, except that Obama seems more willing to draw the US into Pakistan's internal affairs.

"Shaheen Sehbai wrote in Pakistan's News International that Obama's 'candid, frank, almost brutal' comments regarding Mr Zardari reflected 'the broader thinking in Washington that the Army probably is a better option' for rule in that country,' the paper said.

"This view was bolstered by reports that General David H Petraeus, the commander of US Central Command, told Obama Administration officials and US lawmakers that the Pakistan military was 'superior' to the civilian government and that Pakistan had to act decisively against the Taliban in the next two weeks if it was to survive," The News quoted the US daily, as saying.

In the week since those comments, Pakistan essentially has declared war on the Taliban and begun an effective counter-offensive against extremist forces moving toward the capital, The News reported. (ANI)