DIPLOMATIC LUNCH — The French were elated by the success of the Bush-Sarkozy lunch at Kennebunkport, which Paris regards as the first in a sequence of meetings designed to establish a personal relationship between the two leaders. Sarkozy certainly, and Bush presumably, will be in New York for the opening of the U.N. National Assembly on Sept. 23, when U.N. ritual prescribes that they will sit together at lunch. An official visit to Washington by the French president will follow shortly afterwards, possibly by the end of that same month. The warming of U.S.-French relations is all the more satisfactory [...]
On Monday, Presidents Bush and Karzai concluded their Camp David meeting with a press conference at which they stood united on every major issue. By Thursday, the bloom was off the rose: In a snub to both Bush and Karzai, Pakistan’s President Musharraf backed out of a tribal assembly that the United States had orchestrated, and a British commander made headlines when he said America’s counterinsurgency operations are undermining NATO’s efforts. Not once during their eight meetings over five years have the two presidents faced such challenges at home. Karzai finds his once-meteoric popularity waning in the face of his [...]
In the long list of ominously difficult foreign policy choices facing America, the question of how to deal with Pakistan ranks near the top. As in the case of Iraq — the undisputed first item on that grim list — all the choices look bad. And, also as in Iraq, taking the wrong path could help unleash dangers that make today’s threats look tame by comparison. In all matters related to Pakistan, one fact looms large: Pakistan has nuclear weapons. With instability increasing there, policymakers cannot ignore the risk of a takeover by Islamic extremists. We don’t know how likely [...]
