Kissinger fears Pakistan could become a 'failed state'

Press Trust Of India


Fearing that Pakistan could become a "failed state", former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Sunday said the Barack Obama administration will be faced with the challenge of preventing that as it could be an "extraordinary" situation considering that Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

Kissinger also suggested that the George W Bush government had "failed" on the Afghanistan front and said the next regime will have to conduct re-evaluation of the problem posed by the war-torn country.

The Obama government will have to "prevent Pakistan from becoming a failed state, because to have a failed state with nuclear weapons will be an extraordinary case and that is a challenge to the international society," the high-profile former US diplomat said at the India Economic Summit here.

He made it clear that the US will have to involve Pakistan in addressing the problem of Afghanistan.

"How to relate Pakistan to the problem of Afghanistan which requires cooperation of Pakistan, that is I think as the administration evolves it will become necessary to have a re-evaluation of the Afghanistan problem compared to the failure of the previous regime," Kissinger said.

For a "comprehensive solution" on Afghanistan, he said, Washington will have to see how to involve both Kabul and Islamabad.