Middle East Digest: May 22, 2008

Any comments on these press reports as far as the deal by the new government in Pakistan with the Talibans or with the terrorists and all that?  And this has been criticized in the U.S. Senate yesterday.

MR. CASEY:  Well, we talked a little bit about this, or Sean talked a little bit about this, yesterday.  Look, there is a performance standard for anything like this, and the standard isn’t whether they’ve talked with tribal militants or whether they’ve talked with individual groups or not.  The bottom line is does any agreement that is reached actually respond to our concerns and Pakistanis’ concerns for providing additional security for ending terrorist violence, for ending cross-border violence between the FATA and Afghanistan, and for being able to address the kinds of concerns about international and domestic terrorism that we all have.  So we have certainly – and you heard from Deputy Secretary Negroponte on this a couple days – a couple days ago – we certainly have seen similar kinds of agreements or agreements of this type in the past.  They have not worked out.  That means that there’s a track record there that is not particularly positive. 

At the same time, though, you know, we’re willing to see what results of any of these kinds of agreements are and certainly would be supportive if, in fact, it leads to an end to terrorist violence, the bringing in of individuals outside the political process into the political process, and support for the continued development of Pakistan and Pakistan’s institutions.