digitaltiger
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Latest reports suggest that President George W Bush issued orders to American Special Operations forces in July to carry out ground attacks on
terror outfits based in Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani government.
These classified orders - confirmed by anonymous senior American officials - could well explain last week's ground strikes by US Navy Seals in a Pakistani village on the Afghan border. It marks a watershed in Washington's approach to tackling the al-Qaeda and Taliban. Importantly, it reflects concerns that the US has realised that Pakistan might not have been completely above board in its commitment to combat extremists operating from its soil.
US officials and observers, as well as those from the larger international community, have been making this point - sometimes in private, sometimes publicly - for a while now. However, the Bush administration chose to ignore such warnings and placed its trust in Pervez Musharraf's support to fighting terror. This policy, it is now clear, has paid little dividends. It is under Musharraf's watch that the Taliban made inroads into and consolidated its hold over swathes of Pakistani territory contiguous with the Afghan border. It is from these safe havens that terrorists have struck American and NATO troops in Afghanistan and ensured that efforts to bring about some stability to the war-torn country have come to naught. By taking its eyes off Afghanistan and devoting itself to the Iraq war, America lost focus. The result is there for all to see: Afghanistan and Pakistan pose the biggest threat to global security today.
Rather belatedly, Bush announced this week that he would be withdrawing some troops from Iraq by early next year and deploying more forces in Afghanistan. However, it is anybody's guess how much the new dispensation in Pakistan will cooperate with America in the mission to root out extremists in the region. Already, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, has warned that US strikes on Pakistani soil could be counterproductive, driving more people into the Taliban fold.
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistani army are not going to be willing allies. It is part of their game plan to keep both India and Afghanistan on the edge by tacitly supporting the Taliban. The CIA now believes that the bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul was aided by the ISI. And Islamabad's civilian government has to achieve a fine balancing act, which is cooperating with America without further feeding into the hostility felt by sections of the Pakistani public towards the US. It's a holy mess, but America has no choice but to clean up.
Marching Orders-Editorial-Opinion-The Times of India
terror outfits based in Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani government.
These classified orders - confirmed by anonymous senior American officials - could well explain last week's ground strikes by US Navy Seals in a Pakistani village on the Afghan border. It marks a watershed in Washington's approach to tackling the al-Qaeda and Taliban. Importantly, it reflects concerns that the US has realised that Pakistan might not have been completely above board in its commitment to combat extremists operating from its soil.
US officials and observers, as well as those from the larger international community, have been making this point - sometimes in private, sometimes publicly - for a while now. However, the Bush administration chose to ignore such warnings and placed its trust in Pervez Musharraf's support to fighting terror. This policy, it is now clear, has paid little dividends. It is under Musharraf's watch that the Taliban made inroads into and consolidated its hold over swathes of Pakistani territory contiguous with the Afghan border. It is from these safe havens that terrorists have struck American and NATO troops in Afghanistan and ensured that efforts to bring about some stability to the war-torn country have come to naught. By taking its eyes off Afghanistan and devoting itself to the Iraq war, America lost focus. The result is there for all to see: Afghanistan and Pakistan pose the biggest threat to global security today.
Rather belatedly, Bush announced this week that he would be withdrawing some troops from Iraq by early next year and deploying more forces in Afghanistan. However, it is anybody's guess how much the new dispensation in Pakistan will cooperate with America in the mission to root out extremists in the region. Already, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, has warned that US strikes on Pakistani soil could be counterproductive, driving more people into the Taliban fold.
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistani army are not going to be willing allies. It is part of their game plan to keep both India and Afghanistan on the edge by tacitly supporting the Taliban. The CIA now believes that the bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul was aided by the ISI. And Islamabad's civilian government has to achieve a fine balancing act, which is cooperating with America without further feeding into the hostility felt by sections of the Pakistani public towards the US. It's a holy mess, but America has no choice but to clean up.
Marching Orders-Editorial-Opinion-The Times of India
