Advances by the Taliban Sharpen U.S. Concerns

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said Monday that he was “gravely concerned” about Taliban advances in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as President Obama prepared for meetings here this week with President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan in an atmosphere of crisis.

Recent militant gains in Pakistan have so alarmed the White House that the national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, described the situation as “one of the very most serious problems we face.” Pakistan, he said Monday, “has to survive as a democratic nation.”

There were new signs of uneasiness on Capitol Hill about United States involvement in the region. The Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee pronounced himself as “very doubtful” that Mr. Obama’s plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan could succeed. The chairman, Representative David Obey, of Wisconsin, said he would allow only one year for the White House to show concrete results, and repeatedly likened Mr. Obama’s approach to President Richard Nixon’s plans for Vietnam in 1969.

Mr. Obama is under pressure not only to defuse a sometimes-hostile relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also to show some progress against extremists from the Taliban and Al Qaeda who are using Pakistan as a staging area for attacks on American troops in Afghanistan. The meetings in Washington will also include President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/world/asia/05policy.html?ref=us