The White House has decided that President Obama will not offer formal condolences — at least for now — to Pakistan for the deaths of two dozen soldiers in NATO airstrikes last week, overruling State Department officials who argued for such a show of remorse to help salvage America’s relationship with Pakistan, administration officials said.
On Monday, Cameron Munter, the US ambassador to Pakistan, told a group of White House officials that a formal video statement from Obama was needed to help prevent the rapidly deteriorating relations between Islamabad and Washington from cratering, administration officials said, the New York Times reported. The ambassador, speaking by videoconference from Islamabad, said that anger in Pakistan had reached a fever pitch and that the United States needed to move to defuse it as quickly as possible, the officials recounted.
Defense Department officials balked. While they did not deny some American culpability in the episode, they said expressions of remorse offered by senior department officials and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were enough, at least until the completion of a United States military investigation establishing what went wrong. On Wednesday, White House officials said Obama was unlikely to say anything further on the matter in the coming days. “The US government has offered its deepest condolences for the loss of life, from the White House and from Secretary Clinton and Secretary (of Defence Leon E) Panetta,” said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council. “And we are conducting an investigation into the incident. We cannot offer additional comment on the circumstances of the incident until we have the results,” he added.
Some former Obama administration officials said the president should make public remarks on the border episode, including a formal apology. “Without some effective measures of defusing this issue, Pakistan will cooperate less rather than more with us, and we won’t be able to achieve our goals in Afghanistan,” said Vali Reza Nasr, a former State Department official who specialised in Pakistan.
CLINTON: Clinton also expressed regret on behalf of the American people at the loss of lives in the Mohmand tragedy and urged Pakistan to play its due role in the Afghan peace process by participating in the Bonn Conference.
MUNTER: Meanwhile, in a video message released by the US embassy on Thursday, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter expressed condolences on the NATO attack last week that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in Mohmand Agency. “I would like to extend my most sincere condolences to the people and government of Pakistan and especially to Pakistan’s men and women in uniform, for the tragic incident that occurred on November 26 in Mohmand Agency. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the men who died. Hamey bohat afsos hay.
“Pakistan and the United States have stood together for over 60 years. We have weathered previous crises together. I am certain we will weather this one, too, and emerge – together – as stronger partners.
“We take this matter very seriously and pledge to you a full, in-depth investigation. I want to emphasise to the people of Pakistan my personal commitment to do all I can to make sure that we emerge from the tragic incident as stronger partners,” Munter said.
Obama won’t offer formal apology yet: NYT
