Very positive Washington Post article on Kerry's accomplishments

[karynnj]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2013/10/16/kerrys-deeds-just-stunning-state-department-officials-admit/

"“Okay. Too – okay,” Two said, citing Kerry’s and Karzai’s “long personal relationship,” Kerry’s “persistence” in going to Kabul to hammer something out and his “patience,” as “somebody who will sit there for hours and talk through the substantive issues. . .”

This tracks with Two’s recounting of the deal with the Russians, which reportedly almost did not happen. It was written by the U.S. side and agreed to in an impromptu poolside conversation between Kerry and Russian officials who dragged over chairs to join them. Kerry edited the draft on an iPad in his hotel room."



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It is interesting that the agreement was based on an American draft and Kerry then edited it after the meeting. To me, the final resolution - that Kerry and Lavrov fixed at the last minute - was really both sides retreating to the Geneva agreement.