The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- U.S. considers waiting on Afghan security deal until Karzai leaves -report
- White House to transform tent to Monet masterpiece for Hollande
- Obama, France's Hollande make pilgrimage to Jefferson's Monticello
| U.S. considers waiting on Afghan security deal until Karzai leaves -report Posted: 10 Feb 2014 07:20 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated about prospects of getting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a long-term security deal, the United States is considering waiting until he leaves office before completing the pact and deciding on a troop presence beyond 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. "If he's not going to be part of the solution, we have to have a way to get past him," the Journal quoted a senior U.S. official as saying. "It's a pragmatic recognition that clearly Karzai may not sign the (deal) and that he doesn't represent the voice of the Afghan people." The White House, asked about the report, said it was standing by its previous comments on the issue. The United States would like to leave more than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan for counterterrorism and training of Afghan forces after U.S. forces formally withdraw at the end of this year following a 13-year mission in Afghanistan begun after the September 11, 2001, attacks. But Karzai has refused so far to sign a bilateral security agreement that Washington insists must be approved before it will agree to leave the troop contingent behind. The White House says that in the absence of a bilateral agreement, all U.S. forces will withdraw at the end of the year, and that a decision by Karzai is needed within weeks Karzai has called that an empty threat and suggested any security deal could wait until after the April elections. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier this month that Karzai was unlikely to sign a pact and would probably leave the choice for his successor. The Journal said the revised schedule for drawing down troops was based on a plan presented by the Pentagon in January that involves keeping 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after this year at a limited number of bases. The plan would draw down those troops in two years and enable the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of President Barack Obama's second term in early 2017, other than military personnel at the U.S. Embassy, the Journal said, citing officials. According to the Journal, the revised plan would allow the U.S. military to accommodate having either 10,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014 or an order to remove all the troops by the end of the year. The top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, told reporters last December that the U.S. military could wait months for a political decision on whether troops remain in Afghanistan or leave, but that delaying a security pact would damage the confidence of Afghan forces and undermine NATO's plans. (Reporting by Peter Cooney; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Eric Walsh) |
| White House to transform tent to Monet masterpiece for Hollande Posted: 10 Feb 2014 05:35 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House will turn a heated tent on its frigid South Lawn into a Monet-inspired gala fit for a French president on Tuesday, the highlight of a two-day state visit to Washington by Francois Hollande. President Barack Obama invited Hollande for the state visit to highlight the long relationship between the two countries. The two leaders have worked together on responding to Iran's nuclear program, Syria's civil war and insurgent attacks in Mali. "France is really a key partner in the principal security challenges that we're currently confronting," a senior administration official told reporters on Monday. After the leaders meet on Tuesday, the White House has invited about 350 guests to a state dinner honouring Hollande. It is only the seventh such gala hosted by Obama and his wife Michelle since they moved into the White House in 2009. Guests will meet the Obamas and Hollande in the Blue Room, decorated with Parisian-made gilded sofas and chairs ordered for the room in 1817 by then-President James Monroe. "Paris was the centre of high-style culture," White House curator Bill Allman told reporters. Guests will take small trolleys across the South Lawn to the tent, which will be transformed into a spring-like scene inspired by Claude Monet's Water Lilies paintings, with quince branches in full bloom, irises, blue agapanthus and lilies. The White House kept the guest list under wraps, along with who will sit at the head table, but revealed that soul singer Mary J. Blige will perform after the dinner. The first course will feature caviar harvested from Illinois streams, Pennsylvania quail eggs, and 12 varieties of potatoes, the White House said. The salad, served in a terrarium-like bowl, includes herbs from the White House kitchen garden, and honey from the White House beehive. Dry-aged ribeye beef from a farm in Greeley, Colorado, will highlight the main course. For dessert: Hawaiian chocolate-malted ganache, fudge made from Vermont maple syrup, and puffs of cotton candy dusted with orange zest. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) |
| Obama, France's Hollande make pilgrimage to Jefferson's Monticello Posted: 10 Feb 2014 03:45 PM PST CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande toured Thomas Jefferson's plantation estate on Monday in a show of solidarity for Franco-American ties that have endured for more than two centuries despite the occasional tempest. The visit to Monticello, home to America's third president, served to showcase a relationship that stretches back to the founding of the United States in the late 18th century, an alliance still strong despite spats over U.S. eavesdropping and trade talks with the European Union. Hollande, 59, who split from his partner, Valerie Trierweiler, last month after an affair with an actress, arrived solo for the first state visit hosted by Obama since he won a second term in 2012. The two leaders will get down to business on Tuesday with White House talks, covering topics such as Iran, Syria, restive North Africa and trade, followed by a joint news conference. A Tuesday evening state dinner features aged rib-eye beef and American wine and a musical performance by Mary J. Blige. Monday was all about symbolism. Obama met Hollande at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington shortly after the French leader arrived from Paris, and together they flew aboard Air Force One to Charlottesville. At Monticello, they toured the unique home designed by Jefferson, including its distinctive crowning portico and the Cabinet room Jefferson used for writing, architectural drafting and scientific observation. They saw the basement kitchen equipped with utensils he brought back from Paris after serving as U.S. ambassador to France. "Thomas Jefferson represents what's best in America, but as we see as we travel through his home, what he also represents is the incredible bond and the incredible gifts that France gave to the United States, because he was a Francophile through and through," Obama told reporters. He said the house also represents the complicated history of the United States since "slaves helped to build this magnificent structure. "It's a reminder for both of us that we are in a continuous fight on behalf of the rights of all peoples," Obama said. Hollande noted the significant role played by a French general, the Marquis de Lafayette, in helping George Washington defeat the British colonial power. "We were allies in the time of Jefferson and Lafayette. We are still allies today. We were friends at the time of Jefferson and Lafayette and will remain friends forever," he said. Today's collaboration is a far cry from the strains of a decade ago, when France refused to join the Iraq war. But France also has made known its unhappiness over National Security Agency spying practices. Hollande told Time magazine that the agency's tactics "should never have existed" and had caused "a difficult moment, not just between France and the United States but also between Europe and the United States." Washington's relations with the European Union have also been ruffled by a U.S. diplomat's secretly recorded expletive to disparage the EU's handling of the political crisis in Ukraine. The United States and France have cooperated in diplomacy on Syria and Iran, but do not always agree on economic issues, such as a U.S.-EU trade deal on which negotiations began in July. France set several preconditions before allowing the talks to start, insisting that the audio-visual sector, including cinema and books, be excluded from discussions. French tax authorities have also put U.S. Internet giant Google under audit about accounting procedures that channel sales through Ireland. Google rejects suggestions that this is an attempt at tax-dodging. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Dan Grebler) |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan