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India-Pakistan

Seeking Truth and Trust in Pakistan

2009-06-20

Holbrooke Tries to Convince Refugees That U.S. Is on Their Side

SHAIKH SHAHZAID CAMP, Pakistan -- U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke, red-faced and sweaty, sat on the dirt floor of a stifling tent as Aslam Khan, a 38-year-old laborer, spoke haltingly of his family's panicked flight from a Pakistani army offensive against Taliban forces in their mountain village, three hours north of here.

Holbrooke asked some questions about the Taliban but got few answers. "Are these all your children?" he asked with a smile. Yes, Khan said, he had nine.

"Your daughter is beautiful," Holbrooke continued, nodding toward a young woman who sat quietly at the edge of the family. Her head was covered in a royal-blue scarf that revealed only her stunningly dark eyes.

"That's not my daughter," Khan said abruptly. After an awkward silence, the woman explained that she was a Pakistani police officer. It was unclear whether she was there to protect Holbrooke from the refugees, or to monitor what they told him.

Nice going, Dick. That's just amazing diplomacy, telling a rural Pashtun tribal leader that you'd like to take his daughter out to the back seat of your Hummvee. Yeah yeah, it wasn't his daughter, but if that was his daughter you would have happily dishonored the man and his family. Brilliant, simply brilliant.

Posted by:Steve White

#2 Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2009-06-20 18:37

#1 ~~Jake~~ Holbrooke: How much for the little girl? How much for the women?
Father: What?
~~Jake~~ Holbrooke: Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters... sell them to me. Sell me your children.

Posted by: Frank G 2009-06-20 16:06

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