Drones may be 'off agenda' at Obama-Sharif talks.

[Kompromat]

Drones may be off agenda at Obama-Sharif talks​

Date | October 22, 2013

Ben Doherty


Read more: Drones may be off agenda at Obama-Sharif talks

Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif goes to the White House on Wednesday more in hope than expectation.

His first meeting with US President Barack Obama is an important marker for the two countries' troubled relationship, but neither Mr Sharif nor Mr Obama can expect much. Undoubtedly, both sides will bring shopping lists of what they want from the other, but they will know better than to presume to cross too many items off.

For years, the uneasy alliance between the US and Pakistan has been transactional. Reduced to its simplest terms: support in the war on terror in exchange for aid and a powerful international friend. But now Pakistan has nothing left to give. And the one thing it wants most of all, the US is not prepared to offer.

Mr Sharif will tell Mr Obama that the controversial US drone program must be abandoned. He will insist the drones are unlawful and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. More tellingly, he will argue they are the terrorists' most potent recruiting tool, driving scores of young men to become suicide bombers and gunmen.

But the US won't countenance it. A dozen years of war in Afghanistan and nine in Iraq came at the cost of too many lives. The drones, for all of their dubious legality, are a comparatively painless way for the US to fight its battles. Mr Sharif's visit to the White House is a key step in trying to rebuild a fractured relationship, one marked by long-standing mistrust and catastrophic missteps.

Its most recent nadir was in 2011. CIA agent Raymond Davis shot dead two men in a Lahore street, the US found and killed Osama bin Laden, who had been hiding in a massive compound about a kilometre from Pakistan's major military academy, and 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an accidental attack by US helicopters on a border post. Since then, improvement has been slow, and new personalities - a new Pakistani Prime Minister, a new US Secretary of State – haven't yet yielded the progress both sides require.

Because as much as they might wish otherwise, Pakistan and the US need each other.
The US can't fight its war in Afghanistan without at least some measure of support from Pakistan. Taliban fighters regularly wash back and forth across the border, and it's a firm belief in the US, and a source of lingering resentment, that Pakistan doesn't do enough to attack, and may even support, the extremists in their Pakistani mountain strongholds.

The US will also need Pakistan onside if it is to convince the Taliban to sit down to meaningful talks, the oft-promised, oft-delayed negotiations to bring peace. The US also wants Pakistan to cancel its nuclear contracts with China, which it regards as dangerous proliferation. More prosaically, the US needs Pakistan's co-operation in moving billion of dollars worth of equipment out of Afghanistan as it withdraws troops next year. That equipment can only come out by land, and only via Pakistan.

Pakistan, for all its noisy rhetoric around sovereignty and independence, is still heavily reliant on US aid. It will accept more than $US2.2 billion in economic and security-related aid from the US this year (despite Congressional efforts to stem some of that flow), and the country's moribund economy, most particularly its crippling energy crisis, would sink even further – to nobody's benefit - without substantial foreign assistance.

In the lead-up to these talks, the quid pro quo has begun. It's hardly coincidental that the US on Saturday quietly released $US1.6 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan that was suspended in 2011. In response, Pakistan passed the "Protection of Pakistan Ordinance", that allows for terrorists to be declared "enemies of the state", and to face swifter trials and harsher punishments. These augur well, but there is a long way to go.


Read more: Drones may be off agenda at Obama-Sharif talks

 

[CENTCOM]

We should see these meetings as a positive step forward in improving our ties. These meetings allow us to address our shared concerns, and at the same time, build on our improving relationship. The U.S. and Pakistan are two independent nations, and it is understandable, that we may not carry the same point of view on certain matters. But we cannot overlook the importance of staying unified against those who are looking to destabilize the region with their acts of terror. At the end of the day, we share a common vision in regards to restoring peace in the region. We look forward to meeting regularly and work closely for the betterment of our nations.

Ali Khan
DET, United States Central Command

 

[Dillinger]

Drones may be off agenda at Obama-Sharif talks​

Date | October 22, 2013

Ben Doherty


Read more: Drones may be off agenda at Obama-Sharif talks

Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif goes to the White House on Wednesday more in hope than expectation.

His first meeting with US President Barack Obama is an important marker for the two countries' troubled relationship, but neither Mr Sharif nor Mr Obama can expect much. Undoubtedly, both sides will bring shopping lists of what they want from the other, but they will know better than to presume to cross too many items off.

For years, the uneasy alliance between the US and Pakistan has been transactional. Reduced to its simplest terms: support in the war on terror in exchange for aid and a powerful international friend. But now Pakistan has nothing left to give. And the one thing it wants most of all, the US is not prepared to offer.

Mr Sharif will tell Mr Obama that the controversial US drone program must be abandoned. He will insist the drones are unlawful and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. More tellingly, he will argue they are the terrorists' most potent recruiting tool, driving scores of young men to become suicide bombers and gunmen.

But the US won't countenance it. A dozen years of war in Afghanistan and nine in Iraq came at the cost of too many lives. The drones, for all of their dubious legality, are a comparatively painless way for the US to fight its battles. Mr Sharif's visit to the White House is a key step in trying to rebuild a fractured relationship, one marked by long-standing mistrust and catastrophic missteps.

Its most recent nadir was in 2011. CIA agent Raymond Davis shot dead two men in a Lahore street, the US found and killed Osama bin Laden, who had been hiding in a massive compound about a kilometre from Pakistan's major military academy, and 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an accidental attack by US helicopters on a border post. Since then, improvement has been slow, and new personalities - a new Pakistani Prime Minister, a new US Secretary of State – haven't yet yielded the progress both sides require.

Because as much as they might wish otherwise, Pakistan and the US need each other.
The US can't fight its war in Afghanistan without at least some measure of support from Pakistan. Taliban fighters regularly wash back and forth across the border, and it's a firm belief in the US, and a source of lingering resentment, that Pakistan doesn't do enough to attack, and may even support, the extremists in their Pakistani mountain strongholds.

The US will also need Pakistan onside if it is to convince the Taliban to sit down to meaningful talks, the oft-promised, oft-delayed negotiations to bring peace. The US also wants Pakistan to cancel its nuclear contracts with China, which it regards as dangerous proliferation. More prosaically, the US needs Pakistan's co-operation in moving billion of dollars worth of equipment out of Afghanistan as it withdraws troops next year. That equipment can only come out by land, and only via Pakistan.

Pakistan, for all its noisy rhetoric around sovereignty and independence, is still heavily reliant on US aid. It will accept more than $US2.2 billion in economic and security-related aid from the US this year (despite Congressional efforts to stem some of that flow), and the country's moribund economy, most particularly its crippling energy crisis, would sink even further – to nobody's benefit - without substantial foreign assistance.

In the lead-up to these talks, the quid pro quo has begun. It's hardly coincidental that the US on Saturday quietly released $US1.6 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan that was suspended in 2011. In response, Pakistan passed the "Protection of Pakistan Ordinance", that allows for terrorists to be declared "enemies of the state", and to face swifter trials and harsher punishments. These augur well, but there is a long way to go.


Read more: Drones may be off agenda at Obama-Sharif talks

The signature strikes need to end, one can understand CIA's unwillingness to trust the ISI on this since they state that often prior notification led to targets disappearing with the Pakistani side only handing over certain individuals (albeit HVTs) while continuing to facilitate the Taliban. BUT, at the moment the drone program seems to be engineered towards punishing Pakistan for real and perceived intransigence rather than pursuing some tangible security goal or endgame. The ensures that the less reliable and accurate signature strikes and broad definition of what a target is leads to high collateral damage- the US (while being faced with an untrustworthy nation/"ally") needs to understand something, the objective of a national security policy is not to be vindictive but to ensure security, at the moment its more about striking and then striking again with the odd actual HVT here and there. Riedel had the best stand on this- that drones are valuable but they need to be used with a certain restraint and not as the go to solution for everything.

At the end of the day it is Pakistan's inherent dichotomy which brings it down, as illustrated by:-

Mr Sharif will tell Mr Obama that the controversial US drone program must be abandoned. He will insist the drones are unlawful and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. More tellingly, he will argue they are the terrorists' most potent recruiting tool, driving scores of young men to become suicide bombers and gunmen.

Pakistan, for all its noisy rhetoric around sovereignty and independence, is still heavily reliant on US aid. It will accept more than $US2.2 billion in economic and security-related aid from the US this year (despite Congressional efforts to stem some of that flow), and the country's moribund economy, most particularly its crippling energy crisis, would sink even further – to nobody's benefit - without substantial foreign assistance.

It is this shift in the dynamics of Pakistan's relationship with other nations, where it is seen as a means to an end by many rather than a long-term partner. A fundamental re-orientation in world view, foreign and defense policy is called for in Islamabad while the Americans need to ask themselves the rather essential question- "At what cost?".

 

[Leviza]

question- "At what cost?".

ANSWER : To safe exist from the Afghanistan , its not just safe exit they want but also with some respect.

As of now, USA is loosing on all fronts, financially we have witnessed something recently which the writer totally dont know about and its the WAR which USA cant afford to fight any longer...

 

[Chak Bamu]

MNS can not afford to ignore this topic. At the very least, he needs to tell his constituency that he demanded that US stop drone strikes. Whether or not such a 'demand' actually helps anything is another matter.

 

[Kompromat]

Sharif is in a catch 22, if he ignores this topic during Obama meeting, he's dipping his balded head into a boiling water tub.