Tillerson Says Assad Family’s Reign ‘Is Coming to an End’ in Syria<br />"The United States wants a whole and unified Syria with no role for Bashar al-Assad in the government,"<br />Mr. Tillerson told reporters, adding, "The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end.<br />Mr. Tillerson’s visit on Tuesday to Pakistan was perhaps the most interesting of the trip, since Mr. Tillerson had just the week before<br />heaped praise on India, Pakistan’s longtime rival, while bluntly insisting that Pakistan had to do more to fight terrorism.<br />26, 2017<br />GENEVA — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said Thursday<br />that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not remain in power, but that negotiations about the country’s future should continue while Mr. Assad was in charge.<br />The United States has repeatedly asked India to close its embassy in North Korea<br />to help isolate the North Korean government, a request that India has refused.<br />The only issue is how that should that be brought about." The comments came after Mr. Tillerson met in Geneva with the United Nations special envoy on the Syrian crisis — the last stop on a weeklong visit to the Middle East<br />and South Asia in which he dashed among capitals in the region, often spending only a few hours on the ground before getting back into his motorcade and heading to the next stop.<br />And on Wednesday, Ms. Swaraj said the United States might still need ways to talk to North Korea, which the Indian Embassy could provide.<br />On Thursday, Mr. Tillerson said he had spent most of his time with the Pakistanis listening, since this was his first trip to the country.
