Finally, Aung San Suu Kyi gets to talk to a U.S. Secretary of State. Now what?

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, marking the first U.S. Cabinet-level conversation with the Nobel Peace laureate in more than 15 years, according to U.S. officials and Burma experts. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley announced the call on his Twitter account. He said in an ...

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, marking the first U.S. Cabinet-level conversation with the Nobel Peace laureate in more than 15 years, according to U.S. officials and Burma experts.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, marking the first U.S. Cabinet-level conversation with the Nobel Peace laureate in more than 15 years, according to U.S. officials and Burma experts.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley announced the call on his Twitter account. He said in an e-mail that Clinton wrote to Suu Kyi after the Burmese leader was released from house arrest in November and followed up with Wednesday’s call, in which she "pledged to support [Suu Kyi] in her efforts to strengthen civil society and democracy in Burma."

Crowley added: "They talked briefly about what Aung San Suu Kyi has been doing since her release. The Secretary indicated that, both through the Embassy in Rangoon and from Washington, we would have further conversations on specific ideas." Read rest of my article at the Washington Post.

Follow me on Twitter @columlynch

Colum Lynch was a staff writer at Foreign Policy between 2010 and 2022. Twitter: @columlynch

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