CAMP DAVID, Md. - US President Bush said Monday the US and Pakistan, if armed
with good intelligence, can track and kill al-Qaida leaders. He stopped short of
saying whether he would ask the Pakistani president before dispatching US troops
into that nation.
US President Bush, left, accompanied by Afghanistan's
President Hamid Karzai, right, speaks during their joint press conference,
Monday, Aug. 6, 2007, at Camp David, Md. [AP]
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While Bush hails Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf as a trusted ally against terrorism, Pakistan has
objected to the US taking any unilateral action within its borders.
Bush also said he thinks Iran is playing a destabilizing role in neighboring
Afghanistan where the Taliban have staged a comeback.
"I would be very cautious about whether or not the Iranian influence in
Afghanistan is a positive force," Bush said at the Camp David presidential
retreat after a two-day meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
Though Karzai says Iran is playing a helpful role in his country, he admits
security has deteriorated there during the past two years. Along with other
nations' forces, more than 23,500 US troops are fighting against the Taliban,
who regrouped after a US-led force toppled their government in 2001.
Democrats have accused the Bush administration of taking its eye off
Afghanistan to focus on Iraq.
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is
believed to be hiding in the rugged tribal area of Pakistan along its border
with Afghanistan.
"We're in constant communications with the Pakistan government," Bush said,
standing alongside Karzai at a news conference at the secluded retreat.
"It's in their interest that foreign fighters be brought to justice. After
all, these are the same ones who were plotting to kill President Musharraf. We
share a concern. And I'm confident, with real actionable intelligence, we will
get the job done."
Pakistani officials have grown increasingly annoyed at recent claims from
Washington and US presidential candidates that al-Qaida has been allowed to
regroup in the tribal area.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said that he would use
military force in Pakistan if necessary to root out terrorists. Obama spokesman
Bill Burton expanded on the candidate's remark on Monday, saying "Senator Obama
believes that if we have the chance to destroy the leadership of al-Qaida, as we
reportedly did in 2005, we must take it. It makes no sense to wait for the next
attack."
In Islamabad on Monday, Pakistan's foreign minister spokesman Tasnim Aslam
said there are no al-Qaida or Taliban safe havens in its territory. "Our
position is that if there are any terrorist elements hiding in our tribal areas
it is for the security forces of Pakistan to take action against these
elements," he said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other
top administration officials joined Bush at the wooded retreat for his meeting
with Karzai, who plans to sit down with Musharraf on Aug. 9. The two leaders
talked privately in a cabin for about an hour before attending a larger meeting
of the delegations. Security and a record poppy crop in Afghanistan topped the
agenda.
Karzai said strides had been made in reducing infant mortality, battling
corruption and stemming the cultivation of poppies used in making heroin. Karzai
said the Taliban, who profit from the drug crop, are killing innocents but are
not a threat to the government, which has only spotty control outside Kabul.
"They are not posing any threat to the institutions of Afghanistan, or to the
buildup of institutions of Afghanistan," Karzai said. "It's a force that's
defeated. It's a force that is frustrated. It's a force that is acting in
cowardice by killing children going to school."
While admitting that the fight was not over in Afghanistan, Bush, too,
highlighted progress the nation has made in rebuilding with the help of more
than $23 billion in US aid since 2001.
"I remember talking a lot about how the Taliban prevented young girls from
going to school in Afghanistan," Bush said. "American citizens recoil with
horror to think about a government that would deny a young child the opportunity
to have the basics necessary to succeed in life. Today there are nearly 5
million students going to school in Afghanistan, a third of whom are girls."
War-weary Afghans don't want to see the Taliban back in power, yet they are
angry about the number of Afghan civilians who have gotten caught in the
crossfire. Bush said he understands their sorrow, but blamed the Taliban for
using civilians as "human shields." Karzai said he was happy about the
conversation he had with Bush about curbing civilian casualties, but did not
elaborate.