WASHINGTON - September 21, 2008 -
Governor Sarah Palin will meet with former Secretary of State Henry A.
Kissinger and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia as the United Nations General
Assembly opens on Tuesday, an aide to Senator John McCain’s presidential
campaign said.
Ms. Palin is to meet on the same day with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. She will also meet Wednesday with President Jalal Talabani of Iraq, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia.
The sessions are part of an effort to demonstrate that Ms. Palin, Mr. McCain’s running mate, is prepared to operate in the arenas of foreign policy and national security despite criticism of her level of experience. Ms. Palin, who has been the governor of Alaska for less than two years, got her first passport last year.
The McCain campaign provided no details about the time or place of the meetings or the issues to be discussed.
But it is likely that Dr. Kissinger, a close outside adviser to Mr. McCain’s campaign, will give Ms. Palin a broad overview of international affairs, focusing particularly on Russia, China and the Middle East. r. Kissinger, who was national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford regimes, is regularly called on by Mr. McCain for advice on foreign affairs.