Obama to bypass Pakistan on Asia trip

US: President Barack Obama will bypass Pakistan when he visits India and east Asia next month, in the latest twist in America’s tempestuous relationship with its vital ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

But the White House said the president had committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011 and added that he looked forward to welcoming Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington, though no dates were specified.

Obama smoothly scotched speculation he would make a surprise visit to Islamabad on his trip, which begins in just over two weeks, in a meeting with a Pakistani delegation taking part in a strategic dialogue with US officials.

“The president explained that he would not be stopping in Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, and committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011,” a White House statement said.

Any trip to Pakistan by Obama would have been fraught with political sensitivity and security concerns, and may have been seen as a distraction from the symbolism of his three-day visit to Pakistan’s arch-nuclear rival India.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was part of the Pakistani delegation, said Obama’s statement was evidence of the high level of US-Pakistani ties.

“The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place,” Qureshi said.

The United States and Pakistan have been going through another rocky patch in their tense, nine-year marriage of convenience, which emerged from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.Washington, AFP