NEW YORK – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described the group of four countries – India, Brazil, Germany and Japan – as a ‘self-appointed frontrunnersÂ’ for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council, according to classified documents released by WikiLeaks.
ClintonÂ’s cable, which was posted by The New York Times, gave directions to US diplomats to collect information on key issues, including the UN Security Council reform, which is stalled because of rivalries between countries and regions as well as difficult UN procedures.
Earlier this month, President Barrack Obama announced support for IndiaÂ’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council, which, at present, has five permanent veto-wielding members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United Nations – and 10 non-permanent members elected for a two-year term. But most analysts said the process could take years.
The cable asked US diplomats to ascertain deliberations regarding the UNSC expansion among key groups of countries like ‘self-appointed frontrunnersÂ’ for permanent UNSC seats (Group of Four or G-4); Uniting for Consensus group – especially Mexico, Italy and Pakistan – that opposes additional permanent UNSC seats; African Group; and European Union, as well as key UN officials within the Secretariat and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Presidency.
Meanwhile, Turkey kept India out of a meeting on Afghanistan that Ankara sponsored earlier this year to address Pakistan’s ‘sensitivities’, according to US secret documents released by WikiLeaks.
At a meeting with the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns; Rauf Engin Soysal who then was the TurkeyÂ’s Deputy Under-Secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs responsible for the Middle East, South Asia and Africa; said Turkey had not invited India to the Afghan neighbours summit in deference to PakistanÂ’s sensitivities.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in Istanbul for a Turkish-sponsored talks to discuss cooperation against extremists in Afghanistan earlier this year.
“He (Soysal) said Turkey had not invited India to the neighbours summit in deference to Pakistani sensitivities; however, he said, Pakistan understands attempting to exclude India from the nascent South Asian regional structures would be a mistake,” says the confidential State Department cable dated February 25, 2010.
Soysal, a former Turkish Ambassador to the Pakistan from 2007 to 2009, and his countryÂ’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in September was appointment by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as the Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan.
“He (Soysal) reported Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh had requested (Turkish) President (Abdullah) Gul’s assistance with Pakistan during the latter’s visit to New Delhi the previous week.
Acting on that request, President Gul had phoned Pakistani President Zardari, who was sceptical of Indian intentions.
“Gul is planning to visit Pakistan later this year,” the cable said.
“Soysal said Iran is proposing a quadrilateral summit, which would include Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but that proposal had yet to generate enthusiasm,” it said.
Meanwhile, top Israeli and American officials discussed the impact of the possible downfall of then President Pervez Musharraf in August 2007 in a meeting on US efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan, according to a State Department cable leaked by WikiLeaks.
The cable contained record of the meeting between Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Meir Dagan, then chief of Israeli spy agency Mossad on a wide range of issues, including the situation in South Asia.
The leaked cable shows Burns detailed US efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan after the Mossad chief alerted the US about MusharrafÂ’s possible downfall.
“Dagan said that President Musharraf is losing control, and that some of his coalition partners could threaten him in the future. The key question, Dagan said, is whether Musharraf retains his commander-in-chief role in addition to his role as president,” the cable reported.
“If not, he will have problems. Dagan observed that there has been an increase in the number of attempts on Musharraf’s life, and wondered whether he will survive the next few years,” it said.
“Under Secretary Burns replied that South Asia has assumed vital importance in American foreign policy since September 11.”
“The US is committed to denying Afghanistan as a safe-haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda activity. The US (government) will continue to support Pakistani President Musharraf, and is seeking to boost his military defensive capabilities.”
Agencies add: According to the revelations made by the WikiLeaks, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi described President Asif Ali Zardari as ‘dirty but not dangerous’ and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as ‘dangerous but not dirty’.
The revelation is part of a massive dump of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables by the Website WikiLeaks.
The cables provide candid and at times critical views of foreign leaders as well as sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by US diplomats.
In July 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and de facto defence chief, said Zardari was ‘dirty but not dangerousÂ’. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was ‘dangerous but not dirty – this is PakistanÂ’. He said Nawaz Sharif, who heads the main opposition party to Zardari, could not be trusted to honour his promises.
According to leaks, a rail link between Iran and Pakistan would be delayed for the foreseeable future because of unrest from Baloch nationalists in both countries.
Likewise, a natural gas pipeline agreement between Iran and Pakistan, signed with great fanfare earlier this year, is unlikely to bear fruit anytime soon because ‘the Pakistanis don’t have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas’.
Meanwhile, US intelligence believes Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could strike Europe. The documents also show frustration among US diplomats who have been pressing for China to block shipments of missile parts from North Korea to Iran, BritainÂ’s Guardian newspaper reported.
US diplomatic cables include remarks from a source in 2009 saying that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has terminal cancer. The source, a non-Iranian businessman based in Central Asia and travelling often to Tehran, “has learned from one of his contacts that (former president Ali Akbar) Rafsanjani told him Khamenei has terminal stage leukemia and could die in a few months”, according to an August 2009 cable. The document says that Rafsanjani, a critic of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has expressed sympathies with Iran’s reformist movement, decided on learning of Khamenei’s illness to start preparing himself to be a successor.
Leaked documents also revealed how US officials were ordered its officials to spy on the UN leadership. Britain’s Guardian newspaper said a State Department directive sent in July sought intelligence on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s ‘management and decision-making style’.
The government also asked for credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN officials, the daily added.
Israel discussed its planned war on Gaza with the Palestinian leadership and Egypt ahead of time, offering to hand them control of the strip if it defeated Hamas, US documents released by WikiLeaks showed.
The attempt to coordinate its devastating offensive against GazaÂ’s Islamist rulers was revealed by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak whose remarks were included in a telegram sent in June 2009 by then deputy US ambassador Luis Moreno.
“He explained that the GOI (government of Israel) had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas,” he said, referring to the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
