US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday denied a news report that the United States has changed its view of Hezbollah and has begun to endorse efforts to integrate the party in the Lebanese political mainstream.
"The American view of Hezbollah has not changed." Rice told reporters as she flew to Mexico on her first visit to the country as the top US diplomat.
The New York Times on Thursday quoted US administration officials as saying that the Bush administration is grudgingly going along with efforts by France and the United Nations to steer Hezbollah into the Lebanese political mainstream after years of campaigning against the Shiite Muslim party in Lebanon as a terrorist pariah.
The administration's shift was described by American, European and United Nations officials as a reluctant recognition that Hezbollah, besides having a militia and sponsoring attacks on Israelis, is an enormous political force in Lebanon that could block Western efforts to get Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
Asked whether the United States would accept a political role for Hezbollah, US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said on Thursday it is for the Lebanese people to determine who has a political role in Lebanon.
"They (Hezbollah) have members elected to Parliament. So they' re part of the political process.... it's not for us to say who's part of the political process.... It's for us to say that process has to be a process that is governed by the Lebanese people and Lebanese institutions, and that what forms those institutions take, what form the processes take and how the results are dealt with are matters for the Lebanese people to decide without intimidation, coercion or outside pressure." Ereli said.