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Pakistan's Zardari sworn in, pledges to fight terror
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-10 10:57 "I find in President Zardari a good will and vision not only for relations between the two countries but for the region that I have seen for the first time in this region."
Zardari's inauguration comes amid mounting international concern about the stability of Pakistan , which under Musharraf backed the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and in its subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. Billions of dollars of aid flowed to Islamabad in return. But around 1,200 people have died in bombings and suicide attacks across the country in the past year in violence attributed to a backlash against Musharraf's support for Washington. The violence was underscored during Saturday's election when a suicide car bomber rammed a police checkpost in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 33 people and wounding more than 80. Zardari has said he expects to be targeted by extremists such as those who killed Bhutto. US President George W. Bush later Tuesday backed the new Pakistani leader, citing the fight against terrorism in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. In a phone conversation "I pledged the full support of America's government as Pakistan takes the fight to the terrorists and extremists in the border regions," Bush told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington. The US leader's message came in the wake of multiple recent missile strikes inside Pakistan by US or international troops based in Afghanistan. |
