"What is with this bunch of cocky Republicans?"
"If you mean Bush and his team then I suppose the entire world would agree with you. But what has he done most recently?"
"You know this issue of Afghan-Pakistan relations, or shall we say bad relations."
"There I would have to disagree with you. He is actually trying hard to defuse tensions between Musharraf and Karzai."
"Tensions that he creates himself, I mean this Afghanistan-Pakistan rivalry..."
"Excuse me, but again I disagree with you. Bush had nothing to do with that. Blame Ziaul Haq if you will and his Afghan policy that has come to haunt us but not Bush and certainly not the Republicans."
"Well, I meant the choice of Ambassador by Bush - a hard line man of Afghan descent who hates everything Pakistani..."
"But you know our foreign policy has not been that squeaky clean where Afghanistan has been concerned. Granted that the two most recent military rulers we have had, owe their legitimacy in the eyes of the world to Afghans yet we have bungled up pretty badly at times. Remember the days when Musharraf was invited no where but to countries like Vietnam..."
"With the bird flu?"
"Yes, and a country with which ties at any level would have remained, at best, small."
"I remember."
"Anyway, remember Goss, the CIA guy, saying he knew precisely where Osama was."
"Well, if he did then why don't they go get him?"
"That's what I meant by cocky."
"But going back to regional relations, Bush apparently told both his supporters, Karzai and Musharraf to kiss and make up."
"And they did over the phone apparently."
"Glory be!"
"Why can't he say the same thing to Musharraf and Manmohan Singh?"
"There is the small matter of Manmohan Singh not doing the US bidding just 'cause he was directed to."
"Get it. But the US has denied a visa to General Muhammad Yousaf, former vice-chief of army staff."
"A visa was also denied to former Supreme Court Justice Javed Iqbal and his wife."
"So the army and the judiciary..."
"Don't be facetious."
"I meant..."
"You could get into trouble. Beware."
"And then there are many generals that the Europeans are refusing to accept as ambassadors."
"It's none of their business who we appoint."
"Oh yes, it is their business. It's their country and if they don't want to deal with army guys then they tell us in no uncertain terms."
"Do you think we could raise the argument of it's our business and not theirs."
"Definitely not. That's not diplomacy that's a prelude to war."