Biden's going to Pakistan

[Jennifer C]

He'll be there for the elections. Hope he stays safe.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Senator Chuck Hagel's office has announced that the Nebraska Republican will observe next week's parliamentary elections in Pakistan.

Hagel will be joined by Democratic Senators Joseph Biden of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts. The three senators sit on the Foreign Relations Committee. Biden is chairman.

Hagel's group will be entering a volatile region. There are concerns that militants could launch attacks during Monday's vote, seen as key to Pakistan's transition to democracy after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf is a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.

Hagel's group also will visit Afghanistan, India and Turkey.

http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7867109&nav=menu606_2_4

[murbley40]

1. I too, worry for his and all of their saftey.

[jillan]

5. Me too!

But I am glad he is going to oversee the elections.

[Muttocracy]

2. thanks for the info

He mentioned them going to Afghanistan yesterday in his committee hearing, but not Pakistan. That's going to be quite a trip!

[Muttocracy]

3. Kerry did mention it in his questions to Condi

still catching up on the video from SFRC hearing yesterday.

[gateley]

4. I bought a book yesterday and just finished it - obviously couldn't put it

down. It was called The Afghan and it was essentially about the US and Great Britian thwarting an Al Qaeda plot.

What was FASCINATING about it was the history and story of how those locales became how they are today. The disenfranchisement with the Sauds,
the Russian war with Afghanistan, the resulting civil war, the relationship with Pakistan, etc. etc.

It seems as though I learn so much more from fiction than I do non-fiction, probably because it's condensed and written within a plot.

Anyway, if you're interested:

The Afghan
Frederick Forsyth

(you probably recall he wrote Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, and lots of others).

ANYWAY - as I was reading what it's like in those areas of Afghanistan, I thought of Joe - and hadn't realized just how dangerous it is.

I wish him God speed! :hug:

[Muttocracy]

6. press release about it on Biden's site today:

http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=293058&

Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee to Observe Pakistan Elections; Meet with Leaders in Afghanistan, India and Turkey