US understands Musharraf's nixing Afghan meeting

The US State Department said the US understands Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's decision to pull out of a planned meeting in Afghanistan with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that Pakistani officials had discussed Musharraf's reason for skipping the meeting with US and Afghan officials, but he would not elaborate on Pakistan's explanation. "President Musharraf certainly wouldn't stay back in Islamabad if he didn't believe he had good and compelling reasons to stay back," McCormack said. "Certainly we would understand that."