From North Korea to Pakistan, Iraq to Venezuela, the next president faces major foreign policy dangers, Sen. Hillary Clinton told the Tribune-Review on Tuesday.
Clinton said Pakistan and Afghanistan will be severe tests for America and a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq will lead to inter-Iraqi fighting.
"You can go around the world; there are a lot of dangers ... threats and challenges," she said. "Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the crucible of what we do next."
Clinton said she worries about Saudi influence on some members of Pakistan's newly elected parliament, including coalition partner and two-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf deposed and exiled Sharif in 1999. Sharif lived in Saudi Arabia until his return to Pakistan late last year.
"I have no doubt that experience and the support he got there (in Saudi Arabia) will influence him," she said. "I hope he remembers that my husband also intervened very forcefully with Musharraf to save his life. This was one of those '3 a.m. moments' trying to prevent Musharraf from doing so" -- a reference to her Texas primary campaign ad asking voters which candidate is ready to take a late-night crisis call in the White House.
Clinton recalled that, during a 1995 trip to Islamabad, she was struck by the Saudi-funded Shah Faisal Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Asia.
"I was suddenly aware of how much Wahabism had been exported by the Saudis ... both their religious influence and financial influence," she said.
"I don't want to see this democratically elected government, which in the same election rejected the Islamists' parties, turning toward support (for) the Islamists in Pakistan. That would be a tragic development."
Clinton is "deeply troubled" by growing instability in Afghanistan. She called for more humanitarian programs and for more U.S. troops, to counter the encroaching Taliban influence and to secure Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.
The U.S. military has done everything asked of it in Iraq, Clinton said, and no military solutions exist there, only short-term military gains.
"We have tried everything except for withdrawal," she said. "I think saying we are going to start withdrawal will concentrate the attention of the Iraqi government better than anything else we can do.
Clinton said the Iraqis "will certainly fight among themselves."
"Someone will emerge," she said. "Maybe it will be three someones. We should make it clear to the Iraqis that if a Democrat wins (the White House), we are going to start withdrawing, so why don't they cut their deals now ... making the decisions inevitably they will have to make."
Clinton said more should be done to ensure that Russia is friendly toward the United States.
"Russia is continuing to help Iran ... investing a lot of expertise and money into the Iranian nuclear program. I think that is as dangerous to Russia as it is to us," she said.
"We have not come up with coherent policies toward either Russia or China, which I think is very detrimental."
She blamed President Bush for allowing North Korea to re-start its nuclear program, "which I thought was a very serious mistake, and we haven't gotten them to shut it down yet."
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