Zardari’s Agenda in Washington

A decisive week has begun in Washington with top officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan participating in intense talks.

President Zardari spent much of his first day in Washington, visiting key congressional leaders and policymakers in advance of meetings with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later this week. The visits are part of what Holbrooke characterized as an unprecedented series of trilateral meetings aimed at coordinating strategy in the region.

Pakistan is seeking aid to recover from the war on terror, which has cost the country billions of dollars in monetary losses and hundreds of human lives (The Pakistan Army has suffered more casualties than NATO and US forces combined).

Zardari also held a 90-minute briefing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- making a case for the need of urgent US aid to Pakistan. It comes two days after two leading members of the Committee introduced legislation tripling nonmilitary aid to Pakistan.

The deployment of drones will feature prominently in talks in Washington between President Zardari and his US counterpart. Zardari is expected to demand that the Obama administration alter its drone attacks policy. As American officials recognize the US role in creating the insurgency in Pakistan, there is a definite, though grudging, change of mood in Washington.

The Telegraph says that the US is considering “halting drone attacks on Pakistan”.

Sources close to the administration said the policy, which is the only direct means the US has of targeting terrorist leaders, was being "re-evaluated" because of its adverse affect on public opinion and its value to the Taliban as a propaganda tool.

"I have no doubt there is a change of mood," said a Washington source. "The administration recognises that the political challenges are so immense for Pakistan's government that the US has to re-evaluate what it has regarded as an otherwise successful programme." – Telegraph - May 05, 2009

The safety of Pakistan's nukes has also come under increasing speculation in Washington, but more so in the US media -- an issue that has triggered much debate. But, back home, it's seen only as a perceived threat, an artificial warning. Zardari will have a job on his hands for this one too, assuring a nervous America that the nukes are under safe command.

Media in Pakistan has taken the Nuke hype pretty much as it took the '60 miles from Islamabad' hype. The exact distance of Buner from Islamabad is, by no means, an indicator of the Taliban taking over Pakistan. Similarly, just the fact that Pakistan has both nukes and the Taliban, does not mean they can take over the assets.

It’s a tough week for Pakistani officials in Washington, making their case as Senators ask pointed questions (not common in Pakistan’s political culture, but very much a part of US politics) – but the bigger fight awaits them back home. It seems that Islamabad may finally be turning a page and gearing up to fight the real threat to national security.