Saudi Prince: Obama Let Palestinians Down At UN

While addressing an audience at the National Press Club (NPC) on Tuesday, Saudi Arabian Prince Turki Al Faisal called out President Obama for letting the Palestinians down at the UN General Assembly.

“When you have a president in the United States who calls for a two-state solution…and says, ‘within a year I hope to see a Palestinian state,’ [but] when the Palestinians during that year… go to the UN to get a state…[and] he stands up and says, ‘no I am going to veto that’,” Al Faisal remarked, “that is where not only disappointment, but… anger and frustration increased dramatically in people’s minds in the Arab world that they have been let down.”

Obama’s decision to veto the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the UN will have “devastating effects” on the U.S-Saudi Arabia relationship, according to al-Faisal

The Saudi Prince also expressed opposition towards Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and meddling in other Arab nations’ affairs.

“Saudi Arabia continues to insist that Iran’s leaders should give up their goal of acquiring nuclear weapons and create, by deed, the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East,” Al-Faisal said. “This is clearly what is best for the people of Iran and the region.”

Al-Faisal said the he is fully supportive of the tightening of sanctions, assertive diplomacy and concerted action via the United Nations to encourage Iran to cease their nuclear weapons development. However, the Saudi Arabian prince said his country would not support a military attack on Iran.

“An attack on Iran, I think, would have catastrophic consequences not only in terms of human loss… but also because Iran can retaliate and the retaliation by Iran would be worldwide,” Al-Faisal expressed. “If anything, it will only make the Iranians more determined to produce an atomic bomb, it will rally support for the government among the population, and it will not end the program, it will merely delay it, if anything.”

Clinton Downplays Karzai Comments

By Lisa Kellman

During an appearance Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to downplay Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s claim that his country would side with Pakistan if the neighboring nation was threatened by the U.S.

Amidst uproar from many congress members, Clinton assured that America and Afghanistan were on good terms.

President Karzai and I had a very productive meeting when I was in Kabul last week” said Clinton, “We are making progress on a lot of issues and we are coordinating closely on both fighting the insurgents and trying to test out this Afghan-lead reconciliation.”

After Clinton heard Karzai’s comment, she sent Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, to uncover the truth behind the statement.  Karzai, he reported, was talking about the long history of cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It was not at all about a war that anyone was predicting and it was both taken out of context and misunderstood,” said Clinton.

Clinton informed the committee that during her recent visit to the middle east, she explained to Pakistan and Afghanistan the need to fight terrorists like the Haqqani Network and build capacity and opportunity  for lasting stability and security.

Committee members, however, continued to voice concerns over America’s future relations with those in the region.

“Its hard to be optimistic” conceded Committee Chairman Ros-Lehtinen.  “All the options on the table appear deeply unappetizing. All run the risk of being ineffectual, counterproductive, or both.”

“It was not at all about a war that anyone was predicting and it was both taken out of context and misunderstood,” said Clinton.

Clinton informed the committee that during her recent visit to the middle east, she explained to Pakistan and Afghanistan the need to fight terrorists like the Haqqani Network and build capacity and opportunity  for lasting stability and security.

Committee members, however, raised concerns over America’s future relations with those in the region.

“Its hard to be optimistic” conceded Committee Chairman Ros-Lehtinen on the future of Americas relations with the middle east.  “All the options on the table appear deeply unappetizing.  All run the risk of being ineffectual, counterproductive, or both.”

Pakistan, Three Others, Win Security Council Seats

A day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned officials in Islamabad about supporting terrorist networks, the General Assembly voted to elect Pakistan as a new member of the United Nations Security Council. 

Guatemala, Morocco and Togo will also join the UN’s prestigious security body as new non-permanent members in January 2012.

Non-permanent members compete for seats within regional blocks and need to receive at least 2/3 of votes from the General Assembly’s 194 member states.

 Guatemala and Pakistan each secured seats for America and Asia respectively, while Morocco took one of Africa’s two available spots in the the first round of voting.Togo eventually defeated Mauritania in a third round of voting for the other African seat.

Eastern Europe’s spot on the Council has yet to be decided, with both candidates Slovenia and Azerbaijan failing to receive support from a majority of states after nine rounds of voting. Security Council elections are expected to resume Monday morning.

All five eventual choices will be taking over from non-permanent members Lebanon, Brazil, Nigeria, Gabon and Bosnia Herzegovina, whose two year terms are set to expire at the end of 2011.

Senate Dems Urge Pakistan To Do More To Fight IEDs

A delegation of four Senate Democrats are in Pakistan this week putting pressure on leaders to help crack down on the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by extremists across the border in Afghanistan.

The delegation includes Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.).

“The focus is on our troops serving in Afghanistan who are the victims of roadside bombs,” Casey told reporters in a conference call from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Most IEDs, including roadside bombs, which extremists have commonly used to attack U.S. and NATO forces in the region, are primarily created from ammonium nitrate that is smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan. 

Last year 368 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan by IEDs. This year, 125 U.S. troops have already been killed by IEDs. 

“We have to take steps to focus intensively on a strategy against this explosive device,” Casey said.  

Casey explained that an entity has been set up, entitled the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), to bring focus and expertise to the issue of eliminating such weapons. 

Pakistan has both a counter-IED strategy and a plan for implementing that strategy, but the delegation of Senators want Pakistani political and military leaders to put their plans to action.

“What we have to do now is keep pushing our government and keep pushing the Pakistanis to stop IEDs,” Casey said. “We are making progress but we need to see results. We need to see strategies implemented.” 

The delegation has already met with leading government officials, such as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, Army Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and a number of Pakistani senators to stress the urgency of this issue to keep American troops safe. 

“We’ll never have the kind of relationship with this country that we’ve had with others,” Casey added. “There will always be some problems and lack of trust. But if we work hard and stay focused and engaged, we can bring about a stronger relationship that allows us to keep America safer and Pakistanis can benefit from the progress on counter terrorism as well.”

Flood Victims "Impressed" With Collaborative U.S., Pakistani Relief Efforts

Brig. Gen. Michael Nagata, Deputy Commander of the Office of the Defense Representative in Pakistan, told reporters Wednesday from Ghazi Airbase in Pakistan that flood victims have been “impressed” by the way U.S. and Pakistani military forces have worked collaboratively in providing relief to the struggling country. 

“They are impressed,” Nagata said. “They are impressed when they see Pakistani service members and U.S. service members working side-by-side, often times flying in the same helicopter, …to shepherd those civilians that need recovery.

Gen. Nagat applauded the nearly 230 U.S. soldiers who, in cooperation with Pakistani soldiers, have tackled the challenging obstacle of offering aid to those most affected by the disastrous flood that struck the country nearly 3 weeks ago.

A fleet of 15 U.S. Navy and Marine helicopters are currently in Pakistan where Nagata said they have delivered over 1 million pounds of relief supplies to flood victims, a majority of which is food, and recovered more than 6,000 stranded Pakistanis in the Swat Valley.

Four more “heavy lift” helicopters are expected to add to the arsenal of relief aviation units in the first week of September and Nagata emphasized that the U.S. will remain in Pakistan as long as needed.

“We’ll remain in Pakistan so long as the government and military leadership of Pakistan ask us to be here,” he said. “We are only here for one purpose and that is to help people in need.”

During the three weeks of U.S. military relief in Pakistan, Nagata said there has not been any security threat and he remains certain that Pakistani relief efforts are not alleviating the pressure from those who threaten the country.

“Am I still confident that Pakistanis will continue to wage a dedicated and committed struggle against violent extremism in Pakistan? Yes, I am,” he said. “Do I believe they will continue to pursue violent extremism in this country? Yes, I do.”