Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd says the Bush Administration is partially to blame for the turmoil in Pakistan. Dodd says the U.S. relied too heavily on Pakistan to ferret out the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan, putting undue pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

"I think sadly with Musharraf with those additional responsibilites, given the pressures already he was under, was a major flaw in our policy," Dodd says.

Dodd believes the U.S. should continue to encourage Musharraf to lift martial law in Pakistan, but Dodd is against the idea of cutting off U.S. military and economic aid to the country. Dodd says the U.S. needs to do what it can to promote stability in Pakistan.

"This is not Iran. Pakistan has nuclear weapons today and if they end up in the wrong hands — particularly in a fundamentalist state, a radical state — we have a problem that vastly exceeds anything in Iraq or Iran or in that part of the world," Dodd says.

Dodd made his comments earlier this week during an appearance at Drake University. Dodd is spending this Thanksgiving Day in Iowa. He and his family plan to dine at a eastern Iowa farmstead near Monticello.