Daily Times : Negroponte to fly to Pakistan

Negroponte to fly to Pakistan

August 16, 2007

WASHINGTON: John Negroponte, deputy secretary of state, is flying to Islamabad for a three-day visit from September 10 to 12, in a sign of the anxiety felt here over the uncertain political situation in Pakistan. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher is already in Islamabad, his fourth visit there this year. The Bush administration is no longer sure how long the current power-holders in Islamabad will remain in a position to call the shots. The Benazir-Musharraf “living arrangement” that the US favours is looking less likely after the chief justice’s reinstatement. Further muddying the waters is the Sharifs’ petition to the SC for their return to Pakistan, which would all but sabotage the Musharraf-Benazir power-sharing arrangement. Benazir has been in New York for over a week and has summoned some of her close aides for “consultations”. There are reports that Benazir looks “worried and uncertain about the future”, her recent upbeat mood no longer in evidence. khalid hasan