Terming the 'ignoring' of ground realities in Pakistan and Afghanistan as one of the 'dangerous' failures of the Bush administration, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has said that she will adopt a 'new policy' towards Pakistan.
"I will take a new policy toward Pakistan, one that builds on the democratic yearnings expressed by the Pakistani people in the elections last week and recognises that the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan are among the most important and dangerous in the world," she said.
Ignoring these realities has been one of the most 'dangerous' failures of the Bush foreign policy, Clinton said at a Foreign Policy speech at the George Washington University on Monday.
She lashed out at Bush for his continued support to President Musharraf even when he moved further and further away from democracy and his strategies in tackling Al Qaeda.
"I urged the White House to send a high-level presidential envoy. I said there is a lot of misunderstanding between President Musharraf and President Karzai and it is going to cause us problems. That was not accepted by the White House," she said.
"And instead, full support continued for President Musharraf as he moved further and further away from democracy; as his strategy for battling Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremists proved time and again to be inadequate," Clinton said.
She said that the Pakistani people have essentially repudiated the Bush administration's policy and created a new dynamic that could lead to greater freedom and democracy, or to a greater crisis with implications for the war in Afghanistan.
Noting that it is the best opportunity now, Clinton said, "We need to support those in Pakistan from the middle class, from the professions, who are our natural allies in order to give American approval to the changes that have taken place in the elections".
In an obvious dig at Democratic front runner Barack Obama, who has said on more than one occasion that he will go after targets inside Pakistan in the face of actionable intelligence even without the permission of Islamabad, she maintained that she will not 'broadcast' her actions.
"One thing the American people can be sure of, I will not broadcast threats of unilateral military action against a country like Pakistan just to demonstrate that I'm tough enough for the job," she said. "We have to change our tone and change our course," Clinton maintained.
"So let's begin by reviving old-fashioned diplomacy," she said. Accusing the Bush administration of having a narrow circle of advisors, Clinton said, "The president needs to have a broad circle of advisers both from in and out of the government".
"Apparently there is only one diplomat the president will send anywhere, and that is Secretary Rice. So if Secretary Rice can't get to the Middle East, or get to Pakistan, or get to Africa, or get anywhere, you don't get the feeling that the president is engaged," the former first lady observed.
