Did U.S. threaten to bomb Pakistan?

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 23, 2006 | by Mark Silva Chicago Tribune

Musharraf is confronting criticism that he has made an accommodation with the Taliban in the region: "This treaty is not to deal with the Taliban," Musharraf said Friday. "It is actually to fight the Taliban."

The treaty with tribal leaders in North Waziristan has "three bottom lines," Musharraf said: "No al-Qaida activity in our tribal agencies or across the border in Afghanistan. ... No Taliban activity in our tribal agencies or across in Afghanistan. .. No Talibanization."

Bush, standing alongside Musharraf in the East Room on Friday, endorsed this plan, and the two presidents promised a continuing relationship.

"When the president looks me in the eye and says, 'The tribal deal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people, and that there won't be a Taliban and won't be al-Qaida,' I believe him, you know?" Bush said.

"A relationship is trust and confidence," Musharraf noted. "If we don't have that trust and confidence in each other, and we think that we are bluffing each other -- I don't think that's a good way of moving forward."