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Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), one of his party’s foremost foreign policy experts, strongly criticized President Bush for waiting until Wednesday to call Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf about his country’s state of emergency. “President Bush finally got around to calling Musharraf yesterday,” said Biden, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, in New Hampshire. He added, “I can tell you this: If I’m elected, I won’t wait five days to pick up the phone or delegate matters of this magnitude to my secretary of state or to my ambassador. There is too much at stake to leave this kind of conversation to others.” The White House had sidestepped reporters’ questions all week about why Bush had not contacted Musharraf directly before the two leaders spoke Wednesday. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday that the two presidents “spoke for several minutes” and that Musharraf “listened carefully to what the president had to say and heard his message.” The Bush administration, which relies on Musharraf as an ally against terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has condemned Saturday’s decision to declare a state of emergency. Biden, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he spoke to both Musharraf and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. “President Musharraf and I had a very direct and detailed discussion,” Biden said in New Hampshire. “I told him how critical it is that elections go forward as planned in January, that he follow through on his commitment to take off his uniform, and that he restore the rule of law to Pakistan.” Biden has often said Pakistan is the most complex country the U.S. has to deal with. He repeated that message Thursday, pointing out the dangers of what would happen if extremists were to take control of Pakistan, which is in possession of nuclear weapons and delivery systems. |
