Twirp : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Republic Pakistan 3

[Naresh]

<b>Obama worried about Afghanistan, not Kashmir</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->WASHINGTON, Feb 1 : Richrd Holbrooke, US President Barack Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrives in Islamabad on Feb 9 for exploratory talks with Pakistani leaders.

And even before his schedule was announced, the State Department made it obvious that Ambassador Holbrooke had a single-point agenda : winning the war in Afghanistan and Fata. He would not deal with other regional issues, certainly not occupied Kashmir.

<b>“Kashmir was not going to be a part of Ambassador Holbrooke’s portfolio. We’ve made that very clear,”</b> said State Department spokesman Robert Wood when asked if Mr Holbrooke would also help India and Pakistan resolve the Kashmir dispute.

<b>The State Department also reminded Pakistan that while the US was not willing to play any mediatory role in resolving the Kashmir dispute, it did believe that India had a major role in Afghanistan and if Mr Holbrooke ever had to consult India, those consultations would be about Afghanistan.

“India has a lot of interests in Afghanistan. Ambassador Holbrooke, other officials will be consulting with India,” the spokesman said.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Obama officials, however, say their new strategy will be “pragmatic, rather than ideal”. They say they know that fixing Afghanistan and Pakistan is going to be harder than fixing Iraq, and the penalties for failure are greater.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

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