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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKerry: Obama has timeline for ending Pakistan drone strikes 'very, very soon'
By By Sean Federico-O'Murchu, Staff Writer, NBC News
Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that President Obama has a timeline for ending drone strikes in Pakistan, and "we hope its going to be very, very soon."
Kerry, on a visit to Islamabad, made his remarks in an interview with Pakistan TV...The visit, which began Wednesday, was expected to address a wide range of topics, including "promoting security, strengthening the Pakistani economy, and reinforcing people-to-people ties between the United States and Pakistan, in addition to regional topics of mutual interest," according to the State Department.
<...>
Addressing the local sentiment about drone attacks, Kerry said Obama was very concerned about the reaction to counterterrorism activity. "We want to work with Pakistan, not against it."
"I think the program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it," Kerry said.
As to the existence of a U.S. timeline for cessation, he added: "I think the President has a very real timeline and we hope its going to be very, very soon."
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/01/19818853-kerry-obama-has-timeline-for-ending-pakistan-drone-strikes-very-very-soon
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Prime Minister's Residence
Islamabad, Pakistan
August 1, 2013
<...>
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much. As-Salaam Alaikum. Its a pleasure to be here and I was privileged to be able to meet with the Prime Minister as well as the Prime Ministers Foreign Affairs Advisor, His Excellency Sartaj Aziz. Weve just come from a very productive meeting with Prime Minister Sharif, and Im very grateful to him for delaying his trip. He is leaving for a pilgrimage to Mecca during this most Holy Month of Ramadan, and I want to honor his willingness to delay his trip a little bit in order to be able to meet today. Im very grateful to him for that.
Let me say what a pleasure it is for me to be back in Pakistan. I have been here many times, as the people of Pakistan know, and I was very privileged to work in the United States Senate in order to pass what became known as the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, which provided significant economic assistance to the people of Pakistan. And we did that because we specifically wanted to make clear that America does not want to have a transactional relationship, we do not want to have a relationship based on the moment or based on an issue such as counterterrorism or Afghanistan, but we want a relationship with the people of Pakistan for the long term. One of the largest diasporas of Pakistanis lives in the United States of America. We have a huge Pakistani-American population. Were proud of their many contributions to America, to our society, and they are proud always of their heritage and of their continuing links to their homeland, to Pakistan.
I also want to applaud the people of Pakistan for this remarkable, historic transition that has taken place here with this election. I was privileged to be here a few years ago at the last election with then Senator Joe Biden and Senator Chuck Hagel. Now the three of us are privileged to work for President Obama in his Administration obviously, one as the Vice President of the United States, Secretary Hagel is the Secretary of Defense. So were privileged all three of us to continue to work on the relationship with Pakistan, and its with our friendship and our understanding as we come here today at an historic time in Pakistans democratic journey. I was privileged to be here the day of the election for the first transfer of power from one president to another at the ballot box. And now we have seen the first transfer of that elected president civilian to another civilian president. So the march towards democracy in Pakistan is something to be celebrated. And that is another reason why Im privileged to be here at this moment. The people of Pakistan deserve enormous credit for their role in the peaceful transition of power from one democratically-elected government to another.
Im here with a simple message: The United States is committed to a long-term partnership with the people of Pakistan, and we remain fully engaged in building a relationship that is based on mutual interests and mutual respect. And we are working closely with the new government in order to advance a shared vision of the future that is marked by peace, by stability, and by prosperity.
It is also no secret that along this journey in the last few years weve experienced a few differences. I think we came here today, both the Prime Minister and myself, with a commitment that we cannot allow events that might divide us in a small way to distract from the common values and the common interests that unite us in big ways. As we discussed this morning, the common interests far exceed and far outweigh any differences. So were here to speak honestly with each other, openly about any gaps that may exist that we want to try to bridge. And our people deserve that we talk directly and with candor and represent their interests.
Im pleased to announce that today very quickly we were able to agree to a resumption of the Strategic Dialogue in order to foster a deeper, broader, and more comprehensive partnership between our countries. And this revitalized dialogue will address in a realistic fashion all of the many key issues between us, from border management to counterterrorism to promoting U.S. private investment and to Pakistans own journey to economic revitalization.
I want to emphasize the relationship is not defined simply by the threats that we face. It is not only a relationship about combatting terrorism. It is about supporting the people of Pakistan and particularly helping at this critical moment for Pakistans economic revival. That has been a centerpiece of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs campaign, it is a centerpiece of his governing efforts, and it will be a centerpiece of our relationship.
The Prime Minister has outlined an ambitious agenda of reforms that will unlock growth and opportunity. And I know that some of these reforms are going to be difficult. They always are. But they are essential to creating sustainable development, more reliable energy supplies, and better services for the people of Pakistan.
Our partnership is also about energy, education, trade, and investment. We have the largest Fulbright program in the world right here in Pakistan. And through the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act, weve helped to bring 1,000 megawatts of power to the national grid, which is providing power and uplifting the lives of 16 million Pakistanis. Weve launched a new investment fund that will help grow small and medium sized enterprises. And Im pleased to report that we are funding the rehabilitation of all four major trade routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistans regional position brings enormous economic opportunities, and we want to recognize those. Thats why we welcome and encourage the steps that Pakistan and India have taken to expand their economic relationship. As I said when I visited New Delhi just a few weeks ago, if Pakistan and India can confidently invest in each other, then the rest of the world is more confidently going to invest in both of them, and the returns on that investment to this region will be simply enormous.
Now, of course, Pakistan cannot achieve its full economic potential until it overcomes extremism, extremist threats within its borders. I want to say that Pakistan troops have fought very bravely against this threat and its people have suffered enormously, including perhaps more than 40,000 Pakistanis who have been killed by terrorists over the past decade. The truth is we face a common enemy in terrorism, and the choice for Pakistanis is clear: Will the forces of violent extremism be allowed to grow more dominant, eventually overpowering the moderate majority? And I ask anybody in Pakistan to ask themselves: How many bridges have those terrorists offered to build? How many schools have they opened? How many economic programs have they laid out for the people? How many energy plants have they tried to build? I think the choice is clear. I believe Pakistanis are going to recommit to the values that are espoused by the founder of the country, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who helped people come together to build a stable, moderate democracy and an economically vibrant and tolerant nation that is at peace with itself and its neighbors.
MR. AZIZ: Thank you. Its my pleasure to welcome Secretary of State John Kerry on his first bilateral visit to Pakistan and also thank him for the very positive and constructive statement that he just made. Senator Kerry is a very familiar and well-respected figure who has always been welcomed in Pakistan as a good friend. We appreciate the leadership that he has exhibited in the past as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and now in his new capacity as Secretary of State to promote and strengthen the partnership between our two countries.
As Secretary Kerry mentioned, we have had very intensive and frank discussion in a very collegial atmosphere to strengthen the foundations of our friendship and to further build our partnership to achieve our shared goals in the future. As he mentioned, in these foundations there are many mutually reinforcing elements. The U.S. is our largest trading partner and a major source of foreign direct investment and economic assistance. We have Pakistan has a large diaspora in the United States, and a significant number of highly-educated Pakistanis both in the public and private sectors owe their skills to universities in the U.S. However, most importantly --
SECRETARY KERRY: I think they have a microphone problem.
MR. AZIZ: However, most importantly, it is our shared faith in democracy and respect for the rule of law and human freedoms and commitment to the promotion of peace and security in the region that binds our countries in a new and stronger partnership. As we look into the future, we want trade, more trade, larger investment and cooperation in development, including education as the building blocks of a new and renewed partnership.
- more -
http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/08/211379.htm
Xipe Totec
(43,888 posts)Yesterday would be better.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Melinda
(5,465 posts)From PBS:
CHARLIE SAVAGE: Well, the administration's stated policy has been since Obama took office in 2009 that it wants to close Guantanamo.
But in the face of congressional opposition to its plan to bring the detainees into the United States, and later some restrictions imposed by Congress on transferring them elsewhere to countries with troubled security conditions, that stated policy has been basically stated only. There has been very little effort by the administration for the past several years to actually do anything about it.
It's been sitting on its hands, essentially waiting for the political winds to shift again. Even after Congress granted it in 2012 the power to issue case-by-case waivers to those transfer restrictions to send people back to places like Yemen, the administration has not exercised that authority once.
Frankly, words are cheap, and I have no reason to believe what you've posted. It's ACTIONS that speak volumes... actions. So, let's look at Obama's actions, shall we? Here's a partial list of some of the innocent children killed by PBO's orders - you know, those valueless pieces of humankind that American drone operators refer to as "BUG-SPLAT":
PAKISTAN
Name | Age | Gender
Noor Aziz | 8 | male
Abdul Wasit | 17 | male
Noor Syed | 8 | male
Wajid Noor | 9 | male
Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male
Ayeesha | 3 | female
Qari Alamzeb | 14| male
Shoaib | 8 | male
Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male
Tariq Aziz | 16 | male
Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male
Maezol Khan | 8 | female
Nasir Khan | male
Naeem Khan | male
Naeemullah | male
Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male
Azizul Wahab | 15 | male
Fazal Wahab | 16 | male
Ziauddin | 16 | male
Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male
Fazal Hakim | 19 | male
Ilyas | 13 | male
Sohail | 7 | male
Asadullah | 9 | male
khalilullah | 9 | male
Noor Mohammad | 8 | male
Khalid | 12 | male
Saifullah | 9 | male
Mashooq Jan | 15 | male
Nawab | 17 | male
Sultanat Khan | 16 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 13 | male
Noor Mohammad | 15 | male
Mohammad Yaas Khan | 16 | male
Qari Alamzeb | 14 | male
Ziaur Rahman | 17 | male
Abdullah | 18 | male
Ikramullah Zada | 17 | male
Inayatur Rehman | 16 | male
Shahbuddin | 15 | male
Yahya Khan | 16 |male
Rahatullah |17 | male
Mohammad Salim | 11 | male
Shahjehan | 15 | male
Gul Sher Khan | 15 | male
Bakht Muneer | 14 | male
Numair | 14 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Taseel Khan | 18 | male
Zaheeruddin | 16 | male
Qari Ishaq | 19 | male
Jamshed Khan | 14 | male
Alam Nabi | 11 | male
Qari Abdul Karim | 19 | male
Rahmatullah | 14 | male
Abdus Samad | 17 | male
Siraj | 16 | male
Saeedullah | 17 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Salman | 12 | male
Fazal Wahab | 18 | male
Baacha Rahman | 13 | male
Wali-ur-Rahman | 17 | male
Iftikhar | 17 | male
Inayatullah | 15 | male
Mashooq Khan | 16 | male
Ihsanullah | 16 | male
Luqman | 12 | male
Jannatullah | 13 | male
Ismail | 12 | male
Abdul Waris | 16 | male
Darvesh | 13 | male
Ameer Said | 15 | male
Shaukat | 14 | male
Inayatur Rahman | 17 | male
Adnan | 16 | male
Najibullah | 13 | male
Naeemullah | 17 | male
Hizbullah | 10 | male
Kitab Gul | 12 | male
Wilayat Khan | 11 | male
Zabihullah | 16 | male
Shehzad Gul | 11 | male
Shabir | 15 | male
Qari Sharifullah | 17 | male
Shafiullah | 16 | male
Nimatullah | 14 | male
Shakirullah | 16 | male
Talha | 8 | male
YEMEN
Afrah Ali Mohammed Nasser | 9 | female
Zayda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 7 | female
Hoda Ali Mohammed Nasser | 5 | female
Sheikha Ali Mohammed Nasser | 4 | female
Ibrahim Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 13 | male
Asmaa Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 9 | male
Salma Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | female
Fatima Abdullah Mokbel Salem Louqye | 3 | female
Khadije Ali Mokbel Louqye | 1 | female
Hanaa Ali Mokbel Louqye | 6 | female
Mohammed Ali Mokbel Salem Louqye | 4 | male
Jawass Mokbel Salem Louqye | 15 | female
Maryam Hussein Abdullah Awad | 2 | female
Shafiq Hussein Abdullah Awad | 1 | female
Sheikha Nasser Mahdi Ahmad Bouh | 3 | female
Maha Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 12 | male
Soumaya Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 9 | female
Shafika Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 4 | female
Shafiq Mohammed Saleh Mohammed | 2 | male
Mabrook Mouqbal Al Qadari | 13 | male
Daolah Nasser 10 years | 10 | female
AbedalGhani Mohammed Mabkhout | 12 | male
Abdel- Rahman Anwar al Awlaki | 16 | male
Abdel-Rahman al-Awlaki | 17 | male
Nasser Salim | 19
I'm refraining from posting the images or linking to these children's actual dead bodies, but I guess sometimes graphics are needed. So go ahead - dismiss these dead babies as just an inconvenient annoyance; President Obama does.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)what you posted was a joke?
leftstreet
(36,097 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)It's pretty obvious that the changes in Pakistan have a lot to do with this.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Inspiring!
burnodo
(2,017 posts)2004 Presidential debate
2004 Presidential debate
...isn't the President, but in 2005, he should have been.
When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''
This analogy struck me as remarkable, if only because it seemed to throw down a big orange marker between Kerry's philosophy and the president's. Kerry, a former prosecutor, was suggesting that the war, if one could call it that, was, if not winnable, then at least controllable. If mobsters could be chased into the back rooms of seedy clubs, then so, too, could terrorists be sent scurrying for their lives into remote caves where they wouldn't harm us. Bush had continually cast himself as the optimist in the race, asserting that he alone saw the liberating potential of American might, and yet his dark vision of unending war suddenly seemed far less hopeful than Kerry's notion that all of this horror -- planes flying into buildings, anxiety about suicide bombers and chemicals in the subway -- could somehow be made to recede until it was barely in our thoughts.
Kerry came to his worldview over the course of a Senate career that has been, by any legislative standard, a quiet affair. Beginning in the late 80's, Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations investigated and exposed connections between Latin American drug dealers and BCCI, the international bank that was helping to launder drug money. That led to more investigations of arms dealers, money laundering and terrorist financing.
Kerry turned his work on the committee into a book on global crime, titled ''The New War,'' published in 1997. He readily admitted to me that the book ''wasn't exclusively on Al Qaeda''; in fact, it barely mentioned the rise of Islamic extremism. But when I spoke to Kerry in August, he said that many of the interdiction tactics that cripple drug lords, including governments working jointly to share intelligence, patrol borders and force banks to identify suspicious customers, can also be some of the most useful tools in the war on terror.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/magazine/10KERRY.html?ei=5090&en=8dcbffeaca117a9a&ex=1255147200&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=print&position=&_r=0
burnodo
(2,017 posts)what would Kerry think about shooting up half the neighborhood in order to arrest a bank robber?
Oh. Nevermind. I know what he thinks about that.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)burnodo
(2,017 posts)isnt that conveeeeenient for you not to answer a question
"ohhhh....all the sudden they're my personal issues with Kerry
isnt that conveeeeenient for you not to answer a question"
...this:
Oh. Nevermind. I know what he thinks about that.
...sounds personal. The OP has nothing to do with that.
burnodo
(2,017 posts)in order to "kill the terrorists"
ProSense
(116,464 posts)burnodo
(2,017 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)I mean, you're in this thread making all sorts of ridiculous comments because Kerry stated: Obama has timeline for ending Pakistan drone strikes 'very, very soon'
burnodo
(2,017 posts)Sounds like apologia to me
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Sounds like apologia to me
...you're disappointed that he announced a possible end. I mean, if the strikes end, how are you going to continue complaining about drone strikes?
I mean, why else would such an announcement lead to the responses you've offered up in this thread?
burnodo
(2,017 posts)So you realize that Kerry is pushing weasel talk. "Very, very soon" is so ambiguous as to be thoroughly laughable. He said it to ameliorate the sentiments of people who think this indiscriminate killing is just as bad as the actions of the "terrorists".
ProSense
(116,464 posts)..."weasel talk," why the freak out?
It was a joint press conference. What the government of Pakistan thinks of it matters more than your characterization.
burnodo
(2,017 posts)are you kidding?
The Pakistan government got what they wanted from Kerry, a promise that the indiscriminate killing will end when we "get the terrorists"...."very, very soon" whenever that is
ProSense
(116,464 posts)And that upsets you?
burnodo
(2,017 posts)governmental diplomatic double-speak is a good thing, and it's good that Kerry is a willing tool?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Your reaction to the announcement is even more funny.
burnodo
(2,017 posts)tomorrow? next week? 2038? what?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)I took the statement for what it was, a positive sign.
If you want a specific date or time frame, may I suggest: http://contact-us.state.gov/app/ask/session/L3RpbWUvMTM3NTQwMjA5NC9zaWQvZlp4c1ZJd2w%3D
rug
(82,333 posts)Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)and that's a promise.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)that theory is a bust: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023388348