NEW YORK, Nov 28: US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has said that he has received explicit permission from President Bush to begin a diplomatic dialogue with Iran to help secure Iraq after US troops’ pullout in phases. In an interview with the Newsweek magazine Mr Khalilzad said: “I’ve been authorized by the president to engage Iranians as I engaged them in Afghanistan directly.”

“There will be meetings, and that’s also a departure and an adjustment,” he said.

President Bush is under intense bi-partisan pressure to define a clear period to withdraw from Iraq, as the country spirals into violent confrontations between the coalition troops and the so-called insurgents. Mounting American causalities have undermined Mr Bush’s approval ratings, according to latest poll results.

In the interview, Mr Khalilzad warned of the dangers of a panicky pullout of US troops could bring the region.

“If we were to do a premature withdrawal, there could be a Shia-Sunni war here that could spread beyond Iraq. And you could have Iran backing the Shias and Sunni Arab states backing the Sunnis. You could have a regional war that could go on for a very long time, and affect the security of oil supplies,” Mr Khalilzad said.

Opinion

Editorial

Anti-women state
Updated 25 Nov, 2024

Anti-women state

GLOBALLY, women are tormented by the worst tools of exploitation: rape, sexual abuse, GBV, IPV, and more are among...
IT sector concerns
25 Nov, 2024

IT sector concerns

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ambitious plan to increase Pakistan’s IT exports from $3.2bn to $25bn in the ...
Israel’s war crimes
25 Nov, 2024

Israel’s war crimes

WHILE some powerful states are shielding Israel from censure, the court of global opinion is quite clear: there is...
Short-changed?
Updated 24 Nov, 2024

Short-changed?

As nations continue to argue, the international community must recognise that climate finance is not merely about numbers.
Overblown ‘threat’
24 Nov, 2024

Overblown ‘threat’

ON the eve of the PTI’s ‘do or die’ protest in the federal capital, there seemed to be little evidence of the...
Exclusive politics
24 Nov, 2024

Exclusive politics

THERE has been a gradual erasure of the voices of most marginalised groups from Pakistan’s mainstream political...