Pak remains a target despite change in US

M Ashraf Mirza




The Obama administration is resorting to accusations and mollifications as a new tactic of intimidation and coercion against Pakistan following the review of the US policy on Afghanistan. President Barack Obama has talked of threat of an al-Qaeda attack on the US from its safe havens in Pakistan. He also warned the European countries of a similar potential. He has ruled out possibility of sending US troops into Pakistan to fight al-Qaeda, yet insists that US will pursue 'high value' terrorist targets inside Pakistan in consultation with Islamabad. 'We want to work with Pakistan, but want to hold them much more accountable', he said in a CBS interview.




He has also stressed the need for economic assistance to Pakistan and asked the Congress to approve the bipartisan bill for 1.5 billion dollar annual aid to her, yet he insists it will not a blank cheque. A calculated campaign has also been launched against Pakistan's premier intelligence agency ISI. US Defence Secrtetary Robert Gates and US generals including National Security Adviser James Jones and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen have accused ISI of having ties with extremists in Afghanistan. David Kileullen, Advisor to the Centcom Commander Gen. David H. Petraeus is one up with the claim that Pakistan could collapse within six months and its assets may fall in al-Qaeda's hands with extremists take over if immediate steps are not taken to remedy the situation. The Obama administration has seemingly decided to pursue the carrot and stick policy after review of the Afghan war in order to coerce Pakistan into waging the anti-terror war with still greater vigour and perseverance. The philosophy behind this policy is the 'do more' mantra with its emphasiz on seeking the military solution to terrorism inspite of this policy's failure during the last seven years of the Bush era. Terrorism has rather escalated in the world in general and in the region in particular over the period as a result of the US option for military solution to the Afghan problem. It has resulted in the spill over of terrorism and militancy into Pakistan jeopardizing its security, stability and economy. Al-Qaeda safe havens in the Tribal areas, if any, are certainly not Pakistan's creation. These are the groups of people , who were pampered, trained, funded and equipped with sophisticated weapons as Mujahedeen by the US itself to fight against the erstwhile Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Pakistan is, therefore, faced with the consequence of Washington's present and past policies. It is, therefore, being punished by the United States for its own follies. Pakistan has done more and sacrificed more than any other country in the war against terror. Its military losses are more than the combined losses of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Its economy has been ruined, its security is in jeopardy, its sovereignty is at stake and its stability is in a shambles. Pakistan is victim of the unjust and unfair policies pursued by the Bush administration in Afghanistan especially its persistence with bullets and bombs instead of striving to win hearts and minds of the Afghan people. When the Afghan people most needed sympathy, support, compassion and goodwill, they were subjected to military operations with guns, rockets and missiles. The violent reaction of the Afghan people to the US-NATO military operations as well as their tilt towards the Taliban was thus obvious. The Bush administration, in its arrogance of military power failed to comprehend and address the root cause of the resistance. The process of dialogue so vital for peaceful resolution of the issues was ignored with contempt.




It failed to comprehend that dialogue, conducted in an atmosphere free of intimidation, coercion and killings, can alone address the root causes of the Afghan problem and bring peace to the war ravaged country. Obama must, therefore, bring the change for the better in Afghanistan as well that he has promised to the world by initiating dialogue with the Taliban to bring sanity to the situation. The outcome of the latest review of the US policy on Afghanistan doesn't promise that change. It's still based on the doctrine of force, which is evident from the US President's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. Irrespective of President Obama's desperation to save the situation in Afghanistan, the fact is that the US is already losing the Afghan war after Iraq. NATO countries' refusal to pump in more troops and funds into Afghan war has made it clear that they do not deem this war necessary. They are no more convinced about the legitimacy of this war and Washington cannot dream of victory on a foreign militarily occupied soil. It had defeated Taliban at the time of its invasion but not the Afghan people, who have never been subjugated militarily in their history. It has failed to bring improvement in the life of the Afghan people contrary to the hopes of peace, security, economic prosperity and employment opportunities that it had raised at the time of invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. There is nothing on the ground that it can show as positive to the Afghan people. On the contrary they are being bombed, killed and maimed by the alien forces, warplanes and gunship helicopters. Afghan people have been disillusioned with the Obama administration also. Their resistance to the US occupation of their country can by no stretch of imagination be termed as unjustified. It's, therefore, time for the US to understand that it cannot win the Afghan war irrespective of its military might. It's bound to prove Waterloo for Washington as it did for Moscow. Peace will prevail in the region only after the vacation of US occupation of Afghanistan. And in that will also lie the end of terrorism and militancy. Obama's equation of Pakistan with Afghanistan is also unjust and unwarranted and has rightly evoked strong reaction from Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani, who termed the US President's insinuations as 'unfair'. While Afghanistan is a country in turmoil with no state institution in existence, Pakistan is a pulsating democracy, it's a nuclear power, its state institutions are functioning and its judiciary and Press are independent. While the whole of Afghanistan is in upheaval, only part of Pakistan's Tribal region and Swat are infected with violence. That too is due to the spillover of Taliban syndrome from Afghanistan.