Pakistan Expects Little Policy Change With New U.S. Administration

Matthew Rosenberg reports on reaction from Pakistan. For many in Pakistan, the start of the Obama presidency was welcome largely because it meant the end of Bush administration. “Bush is no friend of Pakistan. He is very bad for Pakistan,” said Ali Khan Masood , a 36-year-old truck driver who was drinking milky tea at a roadside stand on the highway between Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, and Lahore in the country’s east. Masood hails from Peshawar, a city on the edge of the rugged tribal areas that border Afghanistan, a region where the Taliban and al Qaeda have revived and renewed their fight since being pushed from Kabul in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Speaking a few hours before Obama’s swearing in, Masood said he didn’t support the Islamic militants. But America “is the enemy. Bush is against Muslims in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in Iraq,” he said. A few other truck drivers standing around nodded in agreement. “We do not know Obama. We will see what he is,” said Nazim ... (link)