Obama warns Pakistan on terror

Sen. Barack Obama yesterday said he would send U.S. troops into Pakistan if President Pervez Musharraf fails to more aggressively hunt down and eliminate al Qaeda strongholds and terrorist training camps there.

“Pakistan must make substantial progress in closing down the training camps, evicting foreign fighters, and preventing the Taliban from using Pakistan as a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan,” said Mr. Obama, setting benchmarks on millions of dollars in future military aid to Pakistan.

The Illinois Democrat acknowledged the military and political difficulties of such an effort in the “wind-swept deserts and cave-dotted mountains.” He said it would be difficult to convince nomadic tribes living there with few ties to the Musharraf regime or any government that the U.S. is not there to occupy their lands.

“It’s a tough place. But that is no excuse,” Mr. Obama said.

The Bush administration says its approach is working and is the most responsible way of dealing with a country that could be an election away from becoming an Islamic fundamentalist state.

“Our approach to Pakistan is one that not only respects the sovereignty of Pakistan as a sovereign government, but is also designed to work in a way where we are working in cooperation with the local government,” said White House press secretary Tony Snow, citing the capture of September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as an example of the two countries working together to combat al Qaeda.

During the broad 35-minute counterterrorism policy speech, Mr. Obama reiterated his commitment to engage enemy state leaders in open-ended diplomatic talks, continuing his brush with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat.

“It’s time to turn the page on Washington’s conventional wisdom that agreement must be reached before you meet,” Mr. Obama said.

Mrs. Clinton, his chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, called that diplomatic approach “irresponsible and naive,” when Mr. Obama first said in a debate last week that he would meet with leaders of Iran, Cuba and North Korea without preconditions.

Mr. Obama’s challenge to Gen. Musharraf was the toughest talk yet from any presidential candidate in either party on dealing with Pakistan. It also went further than any Democrat has gone, said former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, Indiana Democrat and co-chairman of the September 11 commission.

“His challenge to Musharraf to get rid of those sanctuaries is an important one, and I happen to be very sympathetic to that point of view. We have to take out these sanctuaries, and if [Gen. Musharraf] doesn’t, we must,” Mr. Hamilton said.

Among his peers for the Democratic nomination, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was the only one who said he agreed with Mr. Obama’s approach toward Pakistan saying, “We need to reverse the Bush-Cheney policy of appeasement and make sure Musharraf knows his deal with the terrorists is completely unacceptable to the U.S.”

Two other Democratic candidates flatly disagreed with Mr. Obama’s tough stance citing Pakistan as a key ally in the war on terror and a nuclear power that can’t be bullied unilaterally.

Fellow 2008 hopeful Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware said Mr. Obama’s proposal clearly shows his inexperience.

“It’s not something you talk about,” he said. “The last thing you want to do is telegraph to the folks in Pakistan” plans that threaten their sovereignty.

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