Clinton Speaks Directly to Afghan, Pakistani People

Two new videos recorded by the Secretary of State, who’s in Brussels today for the NATO foreign ministerial meetup. Intelligently, these are released with translated versions in Urdu, Pashto and Dari (and, less intuitively, in Arabic). For Afghanistan, Clinton emphasizes — as counterinsurgency doctrine suggests — what the U.S. can do for the people of Afghanistan, and what the Afghan people ought to expect of the U.S. presence. “We seek to improve access to education and justice, to strengthen the rule of law and improve governance,” she says in the video (after the jump), “and most importantly, to widen economic opportunity and increase jobs so people have the chance to support their families.”

And the message to the Pakistanis is about a long-term commitment that strengthens “Pakistan’s public institutions so that all people have access to security, education, justice, and most importantly, economic opportunity,” something the Obama administration fears Pakistanis do not believe.