Summary US senator John Kerry has stressed need for closer US-Pakistan relations.
During his speech at the US Senate, President Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of State John Kerry opposed cutting foreign aid to Pakistan by arguing, among other things, that the Pakistanis haven’t gotten enough credit for their assistance in the operations that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Kerry was responding to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who suggested that the United States demand that Pakistan release Dr. Shakeel Afridi, whom they arrested after he helped the United States find bin Laden. Kerry noted the logistical support Pakistan provides to the Aghanistan war before suggesting that Pakistan helped American forces get bin Laden.
“Our folks were able to cooperate on the ground in Pakistan,” Kerry said during his first hearing about his nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. “That’s one of the ways we were able to get Osama bin Laden. I don’t think the Pakistanis have frankly gotten credit, sufficiently, for the fact that they were helpful. It was their permissiveness in allowing our people to be there that helped us to be able to tie the knots that focused on that. To some degree — not exclusively, obviously, but to some degree.”
Kerry also pointed out that the Pakistanis “have lost some 6000 people just in the last year in their efforts to go after terrorists.”
On mounting criticism for its unabated use of unilateral drones in Pakistan and other countries, John Kerry underscored constructive facets of Washington’s foreign policy, saying US engagement with the world is not just about drones and deployments.
On Afghanistan, Kerry sounded confident in his confirmation hearing about the security transition from the US-led coalition to Afghan forces and reiterated President Obama’s stand that counterterrorism mission in the landlocked country would continue.
Referring to some of the immediate challenges facing the world, Kerry said, “the world is well aware we face a number of immediate, dangerous challenges, particularly in the Middle East and South and Central Asia.”
In defence of the US role in the world, Kerry noted that its foreign policy is also very much about economic cooperation and humanitarian support.
