Biden on Pakistani Parliamentary Elections

Senator Joe Biden is in Pakistan as part of a team monitoring the parliamentary elections which are taking place there today, and he has a simple recommendation to Congress and the Bush administration: if the vote in Pakistan is rigged, we should cut off military funding.

Biden, who is currently the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and has a long history of dealing with foreign policy issues, admits that there's bound to be some fraudulent activity, and seems to rest most of the hope on the appearance of and belief in legitimacy in the outcome:

"Without an open election that gains the confidence of the vast majority of the middle class here there will be great turmoil," Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in Lahore on Sunday.

This is a potentially volatile situation, and we'll be keeping an eye on it as the day progresses.