The United States said on Wednesday that it understood President General Pervez Musharraf's decision to pull out of a planned meeting in Afghanistan with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said that Pakistani officials had discussed Musharraf's reason for skipping the meeting with US and Afghan officials, but he would not elaborate on the explanation.
| Likely Perv was afraid he was going to come home and find somebody else living in his house, smoking his cigars, and drinking his whiskey. |
"President Musharraf certainly wouldn't stay back in Islamabad if he didn't believe he had good and compelling reasons to stay back," McCormack said.
| Fear's a pretty good reason, I guess. |
"Certainly we would understand that." US officials had earlier tried to persuade Musharraf to attend at least part of the council with hundreds of Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders aimed at reining in militant violence now plaguing both countries. The Bush administration, which had brokered the meeting, was initially surprised by Musharraf's snub, particularly after Karzai repeatedly expressed satisfaction about the meeting during a joint appearance with US President George W Bush on Monday. The US ambassador in Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has been in touch with Pakistani officials inquiring about Musharraf's cancellation. |