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Richard Holbrooke on Charlie Rose: Must-Watch Television

By SusanUnPC on February 24, 2009 at 3:25 AM in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke

The State Department’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan needs no introduction. This is a remarkably riveting interview by a man who knows world politics and the practice of diplomay like few others:

PART I:

Sassy

From the editorial page of the Miami Herald:

The government’s capitulation is one more signal that the policy of fighting Islamic terrorism inside Pakistan is failing, a defeat for U.S. policy, and a tragedy for Pakistan’s people.
TeakwoodKite

Mr. Holbrooke offers a glimpse into how SOS Clinton will make progress. If the Pakistanis start training in the US again, I am wondering if that is a double edged sword.

Counter-insurgency training is tricky in that if teach someone and their loyalties shift to “the dark side” then you have created yet another issue.

I agree that the Pakistan’s have a very difficult problem on their hands. I hope that Holbrookes’ attempt to have them shift resources back to the Afghanistan border is effective. He is wrong when he suggests that India did not take the bait and move troops following the Mumbai attacks. That was reported in the Indian papers and had quotes from Indian officials.

It is a difficult question as to how to deal with the bullies of humanity. Hope is a dangerous thing to offer someone if what it is predicated on does not materialize.
CentralMass

History shows that any time we fund, train, and or enable elements in this part of the world, it come back to bite us in the ….
Gary McGowan

To me, part 1 is posted twice above. I’m eager to hear the rest, and it seems the full 39 minutes is at this link -

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10094

I was hanging on every word just as pt 1 ended!
Gary McGowan

Thank you, Susan for posting this. It is indeed a remarkably riveting interview.

I wish there were someone as impressive as Mr. Holbrooke speaking for the new presidential administration on the economic front.
Gary McGowan

I’d like to point out that both Russia and Iran have huge heroin addiction problems related to Afghanistan. Russia has very recently expressed their interest in working with the U.S.A. to defeat drug trafficking.

It is also interesting to briefly take note of the U.K.’s role in the region.

On Feb. 9, the British Foreign Office announced the appointment of Sir Sharad Cowper-Coles as the London special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, obviously in answer to the Holbrooke appointment. Cowper-Coles has had a highly interesting career: he is an “Arabist” in the long British tradition, and served as U.K. Ambassador to Israel and then Saudi Arabia, and in May 2007 was appointed Ambassador to Kabul. This would generally have been considered a “demotion” after Riyadh, which is considered a stepping stone to higher-level posts, the Guardian has noted, but not in this case: Sir Sharad took the appointment gladly, and said in a video made soon after his arrival in Kabul, that the British embassy there is being expanded, to include 128 personnel, making it one of the largest in the world. Sir Sharad also intervened at the height of the BAE scandal, calling on the British Serious Fraud Office to end the investigation. [Briefly, that involves billions in invisible funds for terrorism through a U.K.-Saudi operation. gm]
http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2009/02/19/british-foregn-office-focusing-afghanistan.html
http://www.cheneywatch.org/ truthtelling007

I’ve corrected the video link, part two is there. And the remaining interview is at http://www.youtube.com/noquarterusa
Linda Anselmi

Thank you Susan and Truthtelling007.

Compelling – Charlie Rose is a great interviewer. Holbrooke reassures with his confidence and competence. Even if you wish for a bit more real information.
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