US lacks real strategy for Pak: John Kerry

Just back from a visit to Pakistan, Senator John Kerry says the Obama administrations plan for the country, rolled out last month with great fanfare, is not a real strategy. Pakistan is in a moment of peril, Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a session with a US newspaper. And I believe there is not in place yet an adequate policy or plan to deal with it. In an interview after the session, Kerry advised the Obama administration to stop using the term Af-Pak, to describe a unified strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, because I think it does a disservice to both countries and to the policy. The two governments, he said, are very sensitive to it and dont see the linkage. Kerrys comments amounted to one of the sharpest appraisals by a Democrat of one of Obamas signature foreign policies. They marked a change from his initial reaction to Obamas announcement of his plan for the region in a speech March 27, when Kerry issued a statement calling it realistic and bold.