White House offers Pakistan a new partnership; would increase trade, military cooperation
By APMonday, November 30, 2009
Obama seeks new partnership with Pakistan
WASHINGTON — The Washington Post reports that the White House is seeking to bring Pakistan into a new strategic partnership that would increase trade and military cooperation between the two nations.
The newspapers said Monday that President Barack Obama’s offer was in a two-page letter this month to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. The letter, delivered by national security adviser James Jones, included a blunt warning that the U.S. would not tolerate support within Pakistan’s military and intelligence operations of insurgents fighting in Afghanistan.
The letter, the Post said, also assured the Pakistanis that the U.S. would increase its efforts in Afghanistan and plans no early pullout.
The Post says Pakistan has been the subject of a long strategy review that concluded that a failure in Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons, would be far worse than in Afghanistan.
