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Zardari open to talks with Taliban

Zardari, left, and Cameron said they had put their differences behind them [AFP] Pakistan‘s president has said he is willing to embark on negotiations with the Taliban in his country, despite the group intensifying its campaign of attacks in recent months. Asif Ali Zardari‘s comments came hours after a meeting on Friday with David Cameron, the British prime minister, aimed at ending a diplomatic row over whether Pakistan was doing enough to combat terrorism. “We never closed the dialogue,” Zardari said. ”We had an agreement, which they broke. Talks will resume whenever they feel we’re strong enough and they can’t win, because they won’t win.” Last year Pakistan struck a deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley giving them de facto control over the region, but the agreement broke down when the fighters moved into other parts of Pakistan. Zardari’s comments are likely to raise eyebrows amongst Pakistan’s western allies, who have been encouraging the country to fight the Taliban, not talk to them. Speaking to Al Jazeera, PJ Mir, a political analyst, said: “I feel this is going to bring in a lot of criticism. “People are losing lives on an everyday basis in Pakistan and, of course, on the borders. “So to talk and sit down with them [the Taliban], and again, give them time to regroup, and again, bring their mindset, it’s going to be a very difficult task.” Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/

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Pakistan‘s President Asif Ali Zardari (C) speaks to journalists after a meeting with France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris August 2, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

PARIS, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on Tuesday that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is being lost, mainly because the West has failed to win the support of ordinary Afghans.

“I believe that the international community, which Pakistan belongs to, is in the process of losing the war against the Taliban,” Zardari said in an interview published on the website of the French newspaper Le Monde. “And that is, above all, because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds.”

“The military reinforcements are only a small part to answer the question and to face the challenge of the Taliban insurgents .. . To win the support of the Afghan people, we must bring to them economic development, and prove that we can not only change their life, but improve it,” he stressed.

The Pakistani leader also rebutted British Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks during a recent visit to India that Pakistan should do more to prevent “the export of terror.”

Pakistan “pays the highest price of this war (against terror) in human lives,” said Zardari.

However, he said the dispute will not affect his scheduled visit to London, immediately after the three-day official visit to Paris.

“A frank discussion will allow us to reintroduce a little bit of calm. So I will not cancel my visit to London … The relations between our two countries are old and solid enough for that,” he noted.

Source  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/

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David Cameron in discussions with Barack Obama in Washington last week.

Cameron described Britain as America’s ‘junior partner’. Photograph: Getty Images

If you’re determined to tell it how it is, it’s important to know it how it is – and on the evidence of his travels in foreign parts this week, it is uncertain whether David Cameron really does. Regarding Turkey and Europe, Israel and Gaza, and India and Pakistan, the inexperienced British prime minister’s blunt interventions left a trail of overseas outrage as well as surprised approbation. Fans admired his plain talking. Critics said he plainly doesn’t know what he’s talking about – and risked damaging Britain’s interests.

Cameron stood his ground in Delhi, vowing always to speak his mind frankly. In fact, his truth telling has been highly selective. Turkey’s EU membership, for example, could advance more swiftly if it fulfilled prior undertakings on Cyprus. He barely mentioned that – or discrimination against minority Kurds. Pakistan’s behaviour might be less paranoid and duplicitous if India were less threatening. In deference to Delhi’s hypersensitivity, Cameron eschewed all mention of Kashmir – an incendiary issue overdue for open, international discussion, as proposed long ago by Robin Cook.

Read More http://www.guardian.co.uk/

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UK ‘terror’ warning angers Pakistan

Cameron is visiting India to promote increased trade with the United Kingdom AFP] Remarks by David Cameron, the British prime minister, that Islamabad should not “promote the export of terror” have angered Pakistani officials. Cameron made the comments on Wednesday during a visit to promote increased trade with India, which has tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan. “We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country [Pakistan] is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world,” Cameron said in Bangalore. The comments were likely welcomed in India, which has accused Pakistani intelligence officials of harbouring and abetting groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India has blamed the 2008 attacks in the city Mumbai. ‘Sharp reaction’ But Pakistan was swift to condemn the comments, accusing the UK of “kicking their own friends”. Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/

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Cameron, left, held talks with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan [AFP] Cameron urges lifting of Gaza seige

David Cameron, the British prime minister, has urged Israel to lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip, describing the current state of the Palestinian enclave as a “prison camp”.

Speaking on Tuesday at a meeting of a Turkish business association in Ankara, Cameron said: “Let me be clear that the situaion in Gaza has to change … Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

Cameron, who also held talks with with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish counterpart, defended his harsh description, saying that “even though some progress has been made we’re still in a situation where it’s very difficult to get in, it’s very difficult to get  out…”

Read More http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/

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