U.S. seeks negotiated exit for Yemeni leader and ally

The United States, increasingly resigned to the imminent fall from power of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a past ally in the war on terrorism, is seeking his negotiated exit.

As New York Times writers Laura Kasinof and David E. Sanger report:

The United States, which long supported Yemen's president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and Yemeni officials. [...]

That position began to shift in the past week, administration officials said. While American officials have not publicly pressed Mr. Saleh to go, they have told allies that they now view his hold on office as untenable, and they believe he should leave.

A Yemeni official said that the American position changed when the negotiations with Mr. Saleh on the terms of his potential departure began a little over a week ago.

"The Americans have been pushing for transfer of power since the beginning" of those negotiations, the official said, but have not said so publicly because "they still were involved in the negotiations."

(In this January 11, 2011, file photo Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as she arrives for an unannounced visit at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen.: Hani Mohammed/AP)