Tuesday
May052009
Video: Admiral Mullen Briefing on Pakistan-Afghanistan (4 May)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 7:31
Monday's showpiece in the ongoing drama of US policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan was a 20-minute press briefing by Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
VIDEO (PART 1 OF 2)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8apwmV_03I[/youtube]
Mullen's immediate purpose was to push both countries as the priority for American foreign and military policy: while the US "remain committed to the mission we've been given in Iraq", it had now been overtaken by crises which left him "gravely concerned": "This isn't about can-do anymore, this is about must-do."
While the admiral referred to both countries in his opening statements, almost all the discussion with the press was about Pakistan (a fact missed by some lazy journalism at both CNN and The Washington Post). Mullen restated the recent Washington line that it was "encouraged" by the Pakistani military operation against insurgents although there is "more that must be done", and stayed out of any manoeuvres over Pakistan's political leadership.
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Robert Wood restated Hillary Clinton's warning of the "existential threat" posed by extremists in Pakistan. Attention today moves to Capitol Hill, where US envoy Richard Holbrooke is speaking in a Congressional hearing on the US-Pakistan relationship. And there's the small matter of the arrival of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington for talks.
VIDEO (PART 2 OF 2)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkYtt70NEA[/youtube]
VIDEO (PART 1 OF 2)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8apwmV_03I[/youtube]
Mullen's immediate purpose was to push both countries as the priority for American foreign and military policy: while the US "remain committed to the mission we've been given in Iraq", it had now been overtaken by crises which left him "gravely concerned": "This isn't about can-do anymore, this is about must-do."
While the admiral referred to both countries in his opening statements, almost all the discussion with the press was about Pakistan (a fact missed by some lazy journalism at both CNN and The Washington Post). Mullen restated the recent Washington line that it was "encouraged" by the Pakistani military operation against insurgents although there is "more that must be done", and stayed out of any manoeuvres over Pakistan's political leadership.
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Robert Wood restated Hillary Clinton's warning of the "existential threat" posed by extremists in Pakistan. Attention today moves to Capitol Hill, where US envoy Richard Holbrooke is speaking in a Congressional hearing on the US-Pakistan relationship. And there's the small matter of the arrival of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington for talks.
VIDEO (PART 2 OF 2)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkYtt70NEA[/youtube]