Middle East Digest: February 19, 2008

Bureau of Public Affairs
February 19, 2008

The Middle East Digest provides text and audio from the Daily Press Briefing. For the full briefings, please visit http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/.

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From the Daily Briefing of February 19, 2008:

QUESTION: Just to turn to Pakistan, which I know that Tom spoke about this morning, the election results in some ways have been portrayed as a blow to the United States and to its sort of --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: -- you know, counterterrorism, you know, objective.

MR. MCCORMACK: The last time I checked we weren't on the ballot, you know. (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: I didn't say I portrayed it that way. (Laughter.)

MR. MCCORMACK: No, I know.

QUESTION: Your longtime ally was -- you know, his party was on the ballot. And the question I wanted to ask you was whether you think it is conceivable that you might -- that the United States might -- well, two things. One, do you expect any significant change in Pakistan's policies on counterterrorism going forward, given that it will be a new government?

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: And then secondly, do you now think it is conceivable that you might actually get better cooperation, or at least more politically sustainable cooperation, to the extent that you get any cooperation because it would be cooperation from a government that actually won an election and therefore perhaps has some popular legitimacy?

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, I don't know what government will come out of these elections. We'll probably have a better read on what the precise results will be in maybe a week from now or so, once all the votes are tallied and they're able to apportion the seats based on the votes and based on their specific counting rolls. I think early returns, you know -- read the press -- are that the opposition parties, moderate opposition parties, won a number of seats, a large number of seats in the parliament and President Musharraf's party won fewer. That's just the reading in the press. We'll wait to see what the final results are.

Whatever the outcome, you have a number of different political parties that have, in one form or another, expressed deep interest and an abiding commitment to fighting violent extremists and fighting terrorists. One of the parties that did -- reportedly did -- reportedly quite well in the elections was the PPP, the party of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated. That party, I mean more so than any other political party in Pakistan right now, feels acutely the threat from foreign extremists and terrorism having had their party leader recently assassinated. Others -- other moderate forces within Pakistan's political system have pledged to work against violent extremists.

Now, what we will urge is that those moderate forces within Pakistani politics who now have a seat at the table, so to speak, in winning seats in the parliament should band together, should work together, for a few goals that are in the interest of Pakistan, broaden and deepen Pakistan's economic and political reforms, remain committed to fighting violent extremists and terrorists in the region and on Pakistani soil. This is in the long-term interest of Pakistan and the Pakistani people. We are going to continue our work with President Musharraf and whatever that new government may be on goals of our (inaudible) interest. And we have a deep national interest in fighting violent extremists, breaking up those terror cells that may either operate from, or from time to time, operate from Pakistani territory. And by that, I mean primarily the federally administered tribal areas, north and south of Waziristan.

So we have a real interest in maintaining that relationship of cooperation, fighting terrorism with Pakistan and remain committed to the Pakistani people in helping them realize a different, more democratic, more prosperous future. Fundamentally, regardless of who is sitting in the prime minister's chair, the foreign minister's chair, the defense minister's chair, primarily that's our interest is remaining committed to the Pakistani people. So we're going to work with President Musharraf, we're going to work with this new government on those issues and towards those goals that are in our national interest.

QUESTION: Two follow-ups. Has Ambassador Patterson, since the election, had contact with any of the party leadership in the -- of the opposition parties?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think she has. I don't have a full read on that, but I think that she has had some contacts, initial contacts.

QUESTION: Can you check that and post that?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: The other thing is, as I'm sure you saw the -- there was a story in the Washington Post today that said that a recent Predator attack in Pakistan that killed al-Qaida figure al-Libi was carried out -- if I read -- understood it correctly, without the explicit sort of authorization of the Pakistani government, that they just went ahead and did it and informed the Pakistani Government. Is that true and does that not violate your general policy of not conducting military operations in another sovereign state’s territory without their consent.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Saw the – saw the news reports; I’m not going to have any particular comment on the reports. I think they – they talk a lot about intelligence activities and intelligence-related activities. I’m just not going to have any comment on that. I will say that we do have a good level of cooperation with Pakistan on fighting terrorism and fighting violent extremism. It’s a relationship that has grown immensely since 2001 and I expect that that relationship will continue to grow in the future.

QUESTION: Is it generally your policy not to conduct military operations in another state without --

MR. MCCORMACK: I don’t – I don’t comment – I don’t comment on military operations. We respect the sovereignty of our friends and allies.

QUESTION: You were asked about U.S. contact with the opposition parties in Pakistan. What about with Musharraf? Has anyone talked to him?

MR. MCCORMACK: I’ll – I’ll try to get you a list of who’s talked to whom. I know that – I would expect that there will probably be some, shall I say, senior-level outreach to President Musharraf, so we’ll keep you up to date on any of that outreach.

QUESTION: How senior?

MR. MCCORMACK: Huh? I’ll just say senior-level outreach.

QUESTION: In this building or other buildings?

MR. MCCORMACK: We’ll just keep it at that.

QUESTION: May I go back to Pakistan elections, please? One, there were several bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan pre-elections in Pakistan. And also, do you see any change in the U.S. policy, let’s say, if the PPP or the opposition parties come in power and – because they calling that if they come into power, then they will impeach General Musharraf.

MR. MCCORMACK: Goyal, let’s let the final results be tallied, let them – let’s let them form a government and come up with a platform before you start making those kinds of – those kinds of judgments. Whatever the government is, it will be a government that reflects the will of the Pakistani – Pakistani people.

Again, we’ll have our assessment about the – about how the election was conducted over the next few days or so. If there were -- any instances of fraud, which there have been some reported in the press should be taken seriously and reported. So we’ll look to see what the electoral process looked like through the eyes of outside observers, but let’s let the government be formed. Again, we will look forward to working with President Musharraf and whatever government flows from these elections.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: Libby.

QUESTION: Just to follow on that, Benazir Bhutto’s widow, who leads the PPP, said today that they’re not interested in working with any member of the current government – Musharraf. And he said – his quote is “The decision of the party is that we are not interested in any of those people who are part and parcel of the last government.”

MR. MCCORMACK: We’ll see – again, let’s let Pakistani politics play out according to their rules and the election – and the results of the election. I would expect that there are going to be a lot of statements in the next – in the period of the next week and even after that, a lot of political posturing. I’m not going to get drawn into it. We’re going to look forward to working with President Musharraf as well as what the next – whatever next Pakistani government emerges from this election.

QUESTION: So you would strongly urge these opposition parties to work with him? You would contact them directly and say, “What do you mean by these statements? Why don’t you work with him?”

MR. MCCORMACK: I would only repeat what we – today, what we have said in the weeks prior to this election. We have – we have and will continue to urge moderate political forces within Pakistan’s political system to work together to strengthen and broaden Pakistan’s democracy, to put Pakistan firmly back on the pathway to a developing democracy, to continue a program of economic reform that will result in greater prosperity for the Pakistani people. Because ultimately, that – every single day, you have to – you have to fight against violent extremists, you have to fight against terrorists. But the most important bulwark, long-term, against the encroachment of violent extremists or terrorists into your territory, into your society is a society that is more open, more free and more prosperous.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Sean, Turkish Foreign Minister Babacan today said that in terms of combating the PKK in northern Iraq, the land operation option is still on the table. Do you have any comment on that (inaudible)?

MR. MCCORMACK: I haven’t seen – haven’t seen the most recent statements out of the Turkish side. You know, we continue to work with the Turkish Government and the Turkish military to provide the best possible intelligence so that – so that the terrorist group PKK operating in Iraqi territory can be dealt with. Ultimately, what we’re looking for is cooperation between Turkey and Iraq in fighting this terrorist threat and we’re going to do what we can as a interested party with good relations with both sides to make sure that there is an open dialogue and good communication and effective action in dealing with the PKK.