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Afghanistan
Pakistan must show it wants Afghan peace: US
2011-06-28
[Dawn] Washington's special envoy to Afghanistan said on Monday that Pakistain must prove it wants an end to the war by preventing forces of Evil from hiding out on its soil and enabling those who launch attacks on the Afghan side of the border.
Except that those ruling Pakistan don't want Afghan peace, they want the land as a retreat for themselves should India follow up their next victory by invading the Pakistan heartland. As Pakistan demonstrated in Bangladesh, they don"t consider 'natives' to be fully human, nor even their own lower classes as we've seen since -- very pukka sahib, and perfectly willing to kill as many as they can get away with.
Marc Grossman, US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistain, said in Kabul that discussions among Afghanistan, Pakistain and the United States being held this week in the Afghan capital are important to coordinate efforts to find a political resolution to the nearly decade-long war.

He said they also are an opportunity to clearly convey to Pak officials that part of their responsibility for bringing peace is to stop supporting Death Eater safe havens and those who attack Afghans and international forces in Afghanistan.

"We've been pretty clear that going forward here, we want the government of Pakistain to participate positively in the reconciliation process," Grossman said at a news conference. "Pakistain now has important choices to make."

Grossman and representatives from more than 40 nations are attending a meeting of the International Contact Group. The group's 11th meeting comes after President Barack B.O. Obama announced last week he was ordering 10,000 US troops home by year's end; as many as 23,000 more are to leave by September 2012. That would leave 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

The 33,000 total to be withdrawn is the number Obama sent as reinforcements in December 2009 as part of an effort to reverse the Taliban's momentum and hasten an eventual political settlement of the conflict. The US and its allies plan a full combat withdrawal by the end of 2014.

Michael Steiner, German representative for Afghanistan and Pakistain, said at the news conference that the international community's engagement will not end in 2014, when Afghan cops are to have the lead responsibility for security across the nation, a process he said is on track.

"I think we have a strategy which is working despite the difficulties we have," Steiner said. "I am not painting here any illusions. We will have problems ahead. But I think we have a realistic strategy."
Posted by:Fred

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