Hillary Clinton says Taliban outreach key to Afghan solution

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said that Washington's "preliminary outreach" to the Taliban was part of a necessary but unpleasant attempt to achieve a political solution in Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Mrs Clinton told the Senate that the US is backing a diplomatic surge complementing the military surge that President Barack Obama has begun to wind down with the planned withdrawal of 10,000 troops this year.

"It is diplomatic efforts in support of an Afghan-led political process that aims to shatter the alliance between the Taliban and al-Qaeda and the insurgency, and help to produce more stability," she said.

She repeated that the Taliban insurgents must meet the US "red lines" of renouncing violence, abandoning support for al Qaeda, and supporting the Afghan constitution, which includes protections for women.

"The United States has a broad range of contacts at many levels across Afghanistan and the region that we are leveraging to support this effort, including very preliminary outreach to members of the Taliban," she said.

"This is not a pleasant business, but a necessary one because history tells us that a combination of military pressure, economic opportunity and an inclusive political and diplomatic process is the best way to end insurgencies."

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Death toll now 94, missing 78

Flooding caused by torrential downpours in central and southern China has killed 94 people and left 78 others missing, the government said .

Flooding on the southern reaches of the Yangtze river and in southwest China's Guangxi region in recent days has affected 13 provinces or regions and destroyed 465,000 hectares of cropland, it said.


The figures were announced by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Provinces such as Hubei, Anhui and Hunan along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river -- China's longest -- had recently been suffering a severe drought.


China is hit by heavy summer rainfalls every year. In 2010, torrential downpours across large swathes of the country triggered the nation's worst floods in a decade, leaving more than 4,300 people dead or missing.
One devastating mudslide in the northwestern province of Gansu killed 1,500 people in August.


The flood control and drought relief headquarters said last week the recent downpours had helped ease the Yangtze drought but that many areas were still bone-dry and suffering from acute shortages of water for crops and drinking.


The China Meteorological Administration said yesterday further heavy rainstorms were expected along the Yangtze over the next few days.

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Indonesia backs Christine Lagarde for IMF job

Emerging economy Indonesia threw its backing on Sunday behind France's Christine Lagarde to become head of the International Monetary Fund. 

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A late challenge from Israel's Stanley Fischer, announced on Saturday, faltered as fast as it emerged.

Indonesia was previously non-committal on the race for the top IMF job as Southeast Asian and other emerging market nations discussed the possibility of putting forward a candidate from their region.

Lagarde, already backed by the European Union and a handful of smaller countries, gained a personal message of approval from her opposite number in Jakarta, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo.

Several large emerging economies have been critical of the longstanding tradition of the IMF being led by Europeans.

The French finance minister, who is on a world tour to drum up support, said during a Sunday stop in Cairo she had got "very affirmative" support there, suggesting new fans now included two of the world's most populous Muslim countries.

The United Arab Emirates declared its support for her on Sunday.

The top position at the world's main rescue-lending agency became vacant after Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned following his arrest by police on May 14. He has been charged with the attempted rape of a New York hotel maid, which he denies.

On Saturday Bank of Israel boss Stanley Fischer, once second-in-command at the IMF, said he was joining the race. Until then her only real challenger had been Mexican central bank chief Augustin Carstens, whose bid has been seen to be trailing badly.

Fischer's surprise move looked something of a long shot. At 67 he is two years past the maximum set for applicants.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz admitted on army radio hours that Fischer's "chances are not great", because of politics as well as his age.

"Were it purely professional one would be hard pressed to find a better person than Fischer," Steinitz added.

Fischer was born in Zambia but holds both Israeli and US citizenship. The former could pose a problem for Arab countries and the latter because the IMF job normally goes to a European on the grounds that a US national already gets to fill another post, the top job at the World Bank.

Fischer's IMF record may additionally be questioned in Asia, where he remains associated with harsh IMF-backed free-market policies the region was forced to adopt in the late 1990s in return for aid to counter a financial crisis.

MORE PROGRESS FOR LAGARDE

"Personally I support France," Indonesian Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said.

"She is a very professional person. She is smart in interacting between institutions, and has high integrity and skills," the minister said in comments during an economic forum in the Indonesian capital.

Lagarde's latest campaign stops included Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Mexico's Carstens visited New Delhi on Friday but appeared to fail to secure backing.

India and the other biggest emerging market economies China, Brazil, South Africa and Russia have called for an end to Europe's grip on the top IMF job but they have failed to put up a candidate of their own or explicitly back Carstens.

"There is not the capacity to build consensus among the emerging market nations behind one candidate, irrespective of who that person is, and besides that the Europeans feel very strongly," said Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"I think it's virtually impossible to unseat Lagarde at this point."

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Pakistan tells CIA chief no US boots on the ground

CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country.

ISLAMABAD: CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan’s army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country, but was bluntly told no American boots would be allowed on the ground, Pakistani military officials.
Panetta, nominated to take over as defence secretary next month, arrived in Pakistan on Friday in an unannounced visit, his first trip since a secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and severely damaged ties between the allies.
The army said on Thursday it had drastically cut down on the number of US troops allowed in the country and set clear limits on intelligence sharing with the United States.
“He (Panetta) expressed concerns over the reduction of trainers and operatives. We told him very clearly ‘no boots on our soil is acceptable’,” said the Pakistani military official.
Panetta held talks with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of military intelligence.
The military released a statement saying: “Both sides discussed the framework for future intelligence sharing.”
A US embassy spokesman said he had no information on the talks.
“We told him that we are clear. We don’t want their people. Intelligence sharing is fine and we are ready for that,” said another military official.
Washington was angered by the fact that Bin Laden had apparently been living for years in a Pakistani town about a two-hour drive from the intelligence headquarters.
On Friday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, also a US ally, arrived in Islamabad and asked Pakistan to help end the Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan, which supported the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until its ouster in 2001 by US-backed forces, will be crucial to any attempts to stabilize its western neighbor.
But Pakistan has often been accused of playing a “double game,” promising the United States it will go after militants, while supporting some groups such as the Haqqani network, an allegation it denies.
US commanders say the military effort in Afghanistan is being undermined partly by Pakistan-based militants.
The Haqqanis use safe havens in North Waziristan region to stage cross-border attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, and US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence of ties to the group. Pakistan denies the allegations.

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