A telling correction?

Click here to read the Pakistan Daily Times article that prompted this correction...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Office of the Spokesperson)
PRESS RELEASE

The Daily Times of 30 November 2006 has quoted some remarks attributed to the Foreign Minister by the Daily Telegraph. The Foreign Minister's comments have been distorted and misrepresented.

The Foreign Minister did not say that the Taliban were winning the war in Afghanistan and NATO was bound to fail nor has he advised any country against sending more troops. MORE...

Image: Pakistan' Foreign Minister, Khurshid Kasuri

The Foreign Minister had only reiterated what Pakistan has been
stressing all along - the need for a comprehensive strategy.

The Foreign Minister had emphasized that military approach alone would
not resolve the problem in Afghanistan. It must be combined with
political and economic approach.

The international community must encourage national reconciliation and
undertake an extensive reconstruction programme for South and Southeast
Afghanistan in addition to what it is being done for the rest of
Afghanistan and address the problem of narcotics.

Islamabad
30 November 2006

This is the excerpt from the Pakistan Daily Times that prompted this correction:

Taliban winning, NATO losing in Afghanistan: Kasuri

LAHORE: Senior Pakistani officials are urging NATO countries to accept the Taliban and work towards a new coalition government in Kabul, the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday. According to the report, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has said in private briefings to foreign ministers of some NATO member states that the Taliban are winning the war in Afghanistan and NATO is bound to fail. Kasuri has advised against sending more troops. “Kasuri is basically asking NATO to surrender and to negotiate with the Taliban,” a Western official who met the foreign minister recently told the Daily Telegraph. The remarks were made on the eve of NATO’s critical summit in Latvia. daily times monitor