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| Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz(R), greets U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage upon his arrival at the prime
minister's house in Islamabad November 9, 2004.
[Reuters] |
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, visiting
a week after President Bush was re-elected, also said U.S. forces would make
every effort to minimize civilian casualties in fighting in Iraq.
"What we all witnessed in the election on October 9 was a tribute to the men
and women of Afghanistan and, frankly, a tribute to Pakistan who was so helpful
in bringing about that election," Armitage told Pakistani state television.
U.S.-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai won Afghanistan's Oct. 9 presidential
election, the country's first ever direct presidential ballot.
In the runup to the vote, Pakistan, a crucial U.S. ally in the war on terror,
promised to stop Taliban and al Qaeda fighters from using Pakistani territory to
stage attacks into Afghanistan to disrupt the vote. The election was largely
peaceful.
Armitage praised the improvement in relations between Pakistan and the United
States over the past four years, and the United States now wanted to accelerate
cooperation, in particular economic relations.
"We want to have a relationship with Pakistan that's political, that's
economic -- that's lagging a bit, I think, and we need to get some foreign
direct investment in here," he said.
"We certainly want to continue our excellent cooperation with the military,"
said Armitage, who met President Pervez Musharraf and other senior officials.
Many Pakistanis think the United States abandoned them in the 1990s, after
the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. Ties cooled further when
Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and the United States responded by
imposing sanctions.
But after the Sept. 11 attacks, Musharraf threw his weight behind the
U.S.-led war on terror and the invasion of Afghanistan.
The United States dropped its sanctions and resumed substantial aid. In March
this year, Pakistan was named a major non-NATO U.S. ally, making it easier for
it to acquire U.S. weapons.
"CAREFUL AS POSSIBLE"
But Pakistan does not see eye-to-eye with the United States on Iraq.
Musharraf has said the invasion of Iraq has made the world a more dangerous
place and complicated the war on terror.
Armitage said the U.S.-led offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja had been
called for by the Iraqi government and every effort would be made to avoid
civilian casualties.
"We'll be as careful as we possibly can," he said.
"The government of Iraq has made every precaution to have medical supplies,
equipment, blood, should it be needed, pre-positioned around Falluja so that
they can take care of any civilian casualties."
Armitage also said he had found "very interesting" recent proposals from
Musharraf on the disputed region of Kashmir, at the heart of decades of
hostility between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Musharraf suggested both sides could move troops out of the Muslim-majority
Himalayan region, and India and Pakistan could then try to agree on a compromise
over its status, which could be independence, joint control or some kind of U.N.
control.
"(I) was very interested in the proposal that President Musharraf made. It
looked to me as if he was being very forward thinking," Armitage said.
"I think he's caused a great deal of thinking, both in India and here in
Pakistan about the way forward."
Armitage was due to fly to Kabul later on Tuesday, where he was to have
dinner with President Karzai. He will be the most senior U.S. official to visit
Afghanistan since Karzai's election win.
