SparklingCrescent
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Pakistan's military has been embarrassed, to put it mildly, by the suspicion that it must have known where Osama bin Laden was hiding. In response, it is using its old tricks and hoping to ride out the storm as it has in the past. It is leaking stories to favored journalists and unleashing activists and politicians all with the aim of stoking anti-Americanism in Pakistan.
Having been caught in a situation that suggests either complicity with al Qaeda or gross incompetence (and the reality is probably a bit of both), Pakistan is now furiously trying to change the subject. Senior generals angrily denounce America for entering the country.
A Pakistani friend put it to me this way: It's like a person caught in bed with another man's wife who is indignant that someone entered his house.
The military has also once again been able to cow the civilian government. According to Pakistani sources, the speech that Prime Minister Gilani gave at a recent news conference was drafted by the military. So having come to power hoping to clip the military's wings, Pakistan's democratically elected government has been reduced to mouthing talking points written for it by the intelligence service.
Now, some politicians and journalists say they want an inquiry into how America entered Pakistan. But is that really the issue? The United States has been involved in counterterrorist operations in Pakistan for years - using drones and people, going in and out.
The fundamental question is how was it that the world's leading terrorist was living in Pakistan with some kind of support network that must have included elements of the Pakistani government? How is it that every major al Qaeda official who has been captured or killed since 2002 has been found comfortably ensconced in a Pakistani city? And how is it that any time these issues are raised, they get drowned out by an organized campaign of anti-Americanism or religious fanaticism. Washington has given in to the Pakistani military time and again, but America has leverage. Pakistan needs American aid, arms and training to sustain its army. If the generals are going to receive those benefits, they must become part of Pakistan's solution and not its problem.
Washington should do three things:
1) Press for a major national commission in Pakistan, headed by a Supreme Court justice, not an army apparatchik, to investigate whether bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders have been supported and sustained by elements of the Pakistani state.
2) Demand that the provisions of the Lugar-Kerry Bill on civilian control of the military be strictly followed, otherwise American aid will be withheld.
3) Ask to see a plan for the Pakistani military to go after the major untouched terror networks in Pakistan, such as the Haqqani faction, the Quetta Shura and Lashkar-i-Taiba.
In the longer run, as the United States scales back its military presence in Afghanistan (which I hope it will do) it will need the Pakistani military less and less to supply its troops in theater.
Pakistan's civilian government, its business class and its intellectuals have the largest role to play in this struggle. They should not get distracted by empty anti-American slogans or hyper-nationalism.
This is Pakistan's chance to become a normal country, and it might not come again.
---------------------------------
Article is not posted to derail Pakistan Army or ISI. But just look at the hate in it. It almost feels as if this is all a setup. Very offensive in some way too. Why does U.S have to be a big muscular proctor?
Having been caught in a situation that suggests either complicity with al Qaeda or gross incompetence (and the reality is probably a bit of both), Pakistan is now furiously trying to change the subject. Senior generals angrily denounce America for entering the country.
A Pakistani friend put it to me this way: It's like a person caught in bed with another man's wife who is indignant that someone entered his house.
The military has also once again been able to cow the civilian government. According to Pakistani sources, the speech that Prime Minister Gilani gave at a recent news conference was drafted by the military. So having come to power hoping to clip the military's wings, Pakistan's democratically elected government has been reduced to mouthing talking points written for it by the intelligence service.
Now, some politicians and journalists say they want an inquiry into how America entered Pakistan. But is that really the issue? The United States has been involved in counterterrorist operations in Pakistan for years - using drones and people, going in and out.
The fundamental question is how was it that the world's leading terrorist was living in Pakistan with some kind of support network that must have included elements of the Pakistani government? How is it that every major al Qaeda official who has been captured or killed since 2002 has been found comfortably ensconced in a Pakistani city? And how is it that any time these issues are raised, they get drowned out by an organized campaign of anti-Americanism or religious fanaticism. Washington has given in to the Pakistani military time and again, but America has leverage. Pakistan needs American aid, arms and training to sustain its army. If the generals are going to receive those benefits, they must become part of Pakistan's solution and not its problem.
Washington should do three things:
1) Press for a major national commission in Pakistan, headed by a Supreme Court justice, not an army apparatchik, to investigate whether bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders have been supported and sustained by elements of the Pakistani state.
2) Demand that the provisions of the Lugar-Kerry Bill on civilian control of the military be strictly followed, otherwise American aid will be withheld.
3) Ask to see a plan for the Pakistani military to go after the major untouched terror networks in Pakistan, such as the Haqqani faction, the Quetta Shura and Lashkar-i-Taiba.
In the longer run, as the United States scales back its military presence in Afghanistan (which I hope it will do) it will need the Pakistani military less and less to supply its troops in theater.
Pakistan's civilian government, its business class and its intellectuals have the largest role to play in this struggle. They should not get distracted by empty anti-American slogans or hyper-nationalism.
This is Pakistan's chance to become a normal country, and it might not come again.
---------------------------------
Article is not posted to derail Pakistan Army or ISI. But just look at the hate in it. It almost feels as if this is all a setup. Very offensive in some way too. Why does U.S have to be a big muscular proctor?
