Pakistan may become a 'failed state'

[Al-zakir]

Fears Kissinger
Pti, New Delhi


Fearing that Pakistan could become a "failed state", former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger today said the Barack Obama administration will be faced with the challenge of preventing that as it could be an "extraordinary" situation considering that Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

Kissinger also suggested that the George W Bush government had "failed" on the Afghanistan front and said the next regime will have to conduct re-evaluation of the problem posed by the war-torn country.

The Obama government will have to "prevent Pakistan from becoming a failed state, because to have a failed state with nuclear weapons will be an extraordinary case and that is a challenge to the international society," the high-profile former US diplomat said at the India Economic Summit here.

He made it clear that the US will have to involve Pakistan in addressing the problem of Afghanistan.

"How to relate Pakistan to the problem of Afghanistan which requires cooperation of Pakistan, that is I think as the administration evolves it will become necessary to have a re-evaluation of the Afghanistan problem compared to the failure of the previous regime," Kissinger said.

For a "comprehensive solution" on Afghanistan, he said, Washington will have to see how to involve both Kabul and Islamabad.

On reports of Hillary Clinton being tipped to become the US Secretary of State in the Barack Obama Presidency, Kissinger said "if true, the decision would be courageous."

"It shows great courage on the part of the President-elect to induct a strong personality, who has her own constituency, to such a crucial post. It needs lot of courage," he said.

Kissinger said Clinton was a "lady with great intelligence" and her nomination to the top cabinet post would be a "landmark appointment."

The former US Secretary of State parried questions on reports of former US President Bill Clinton being named as Obama's special envoy on Kashmir.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Yes - how many years now since the predictions of a 'failed state' first emerged?

We keep chugging along don't we.

That said, I have no issues with the West treating Pakistan with kid gloves and moderating its actions because they do not want to see Pakistan 'failing'.

 

[fatman17]

Fears Kissinger
Pti, New Delhi


Fearing that Pakistan could become a "failed state", former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger today said the Barack Obama administration will be faced with the challenge of preventing that as it could be an "extraordinary" situation considering that Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

Kissinger also suggested that the George W Bush government had "failed" on the Afghanistan front and said the next regime will have to conduct re-evaluation of the problem posed by the war-torn country.

The Obama government will have to "prevent Pakistan from becoming a failed state, because to have a failed state with nuclear weapons will be an extraordinary case and that is a challenge to the international society," the high-profile former US diplomat said at the India Economic Summit here.

He made it clear that the US will have to involve Pakistan in addressing the problem of Afghanistan.

"How to relate Pakistan to the problem of Afghanistan which requires cooperation of Pakistan, that is I think as the administration evolves it will become necessary to have a re-evaluation of the Afghanistan problem compared to the failure of the previous regime," Kissinger said.

For a "comprehensive solution" on Afghanistan, he said, Washington will have to see how to involve both Kabul and Islamabad.

On reports of Hillary Clinton being tipped to become the US Secretary of State in the Barack Obama Presidency, Kissinger said "if true, the decision would be courageous."

"It shows great courage on the part of the President-elect to induct a strong personality, who has her own constituency, to such a crucial post. It needs lot of courage," he said.

Kissinger said Clinton was a "lady with great intelligence" and her nomination to the top cabinet post would be a "landmark appointment."

The former US Secretary of State parried questions on reports of former US President Bill Clinton being named as Obama's special envoy on Kashmir.

please tell me something which i dont know already! more western paranoia!

 

[Imran Khan]

The world cannot afford a ‘failed’ Pakistan


By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: The danger of a failed state, replete with nuclear weapons, ethnic tensions, Taliban sympathisers and Osama Bin Laden in residence, is chilling, according to Lee Hamilton, former congressman and co-author of the 9/11 report.

Writing in the Indianapolis Star, Hamilton argues that Pakistan’s underlying economic weaknesses and the global financial crisis have devastated the country. Between July and October, the rupee lost a quarter of its value. Foreign-exchange reserves have dwindled to dangerously low levels. Pakistan has sought assistance from the International Monetary Fund in the $5 billion to $13 billion range to avoid defaulting on its debts. President Asif Ali Zardari has “yet to demonstrate the capacity to tackle Pakistan’s toughest challenges”. He lacks popular support to wage a campaign against the Taliban. He must carefully balance his country’s strategic alliance with the United States and widespread public hostility to the US.

Hamilton write that the dispute over Kashmir lingers, while the reach of the Taliban increasingly extends from the Tribal Areas into Pakistan and its cities. From their tribal agency base, the Taliban have launched deadly raids on US and allied troops in Afghanistan, where their presence is growing. The US response thus far has been increased cross-border military action into the Tribal Areas, but it needs a comprehensive plan to promote stability in the region with integrated security, political and economic components. Even then, the US cannot achieve success and eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in the Tribal Areas without Pakistani help. The United States needs to discreetly help Pakistan defend traditional forms of tribal governance and the elders who could form the backbone of indigenous resistance to the Taliban. In dealing with the Tribal Areas, the United States must differentiate its enemies.



Obsession:



Hamilton notes that Kabul has opened low-level negotiations with pragmatic elements within the Taliban under Saudi Arabian auspices. The US should sharply expand and improve its commitment to Pakistan’s economic development. India, he points out, remains Pakistan’s national security obsession. To Islamabad, Afghanistan represents an opportunity to achieve ‘strategic depth’ vis-à-vis India. The United States should support rapprochement and a settlement over Kashmir, while encouraging Pakistan to view its regional security challenges more broadly. But, even with the right military, economic and political resources, the US faces an enormous challenge, nation-building in a country of 170 million people. The United States needs a unity of effort in support of the Pakistani government, the Pakistani people and our own national security interests.

 

[su-47]

The british used to call USA 'failed state' in the late 18th and early 19th century. china was supposed to be a 'failed state' in the 60s, when Mao messed up with the Great Leap Forward. Russia was a failed state when the Tsars were overthrown and the civil war erupted. Churchill said India wouldn't exist by the 1970s

Some people cant give the failed state theory a rest. if all the states which were once declared failed actually failed, we'd have a very different world now.

 

[fatman17]

if all the states which were once declared failed actually failed, we'd have a very different world now.

yes a failed world!!!

 

[Flintlock]

The world cannot afford a ‘failed’ Pakistan

Well then there you have it - the world cannot afford a failed Pakistan. So I'm guessing that the world will not let Pakistan fail.

 

[Zaheerkhan]

Dayum,, I cant believe this is coming from Henri Kissinger, who had been such a staunch anti-Indian. He was the National security adviser under President Nixon, during 1971 , liberation of Bangladesh war. These words coming from him is quiet surprising!!!

 

[johnee]

strangely.....world( US) is only concerned about pak because it has nukes.........imagine if that were not the case........!
since nukes are the only prob (according to US)........then maybe they would employ a method to get pak rid of them......if 'saving pak'( they are using the term) becomes too hard a task.......!

 

[blain2]

When? By my own count, we have been declared a failed state 6 times. It all started in 1985 when CIA came up with its amazing forecast. We really gave them reasons for suggesting the same again (thrice) during the amazing decade of the 90s, then once at the beginning of Musharraf's tenure. Once things improved a bit, they shut their traps up, and now speculations are rife again..oh well us Pakistanis have got used to this. Might as well start betting, its a sure bet that these speculators will be wrong again inshallah!

 

[blain2]

Dayum,, I cant believe this is coming from Henri Kissinger, who had been such a staunch anti-Indian. He was the National security adviser under President Nixon, during 1971 , liberation of Bangladesh war. These words coming from him is quiet surprising!!!

What does this have to do with his supposed anti-India stance? Not sure if I get your logic.

 

[johnee]

When?

ha ha........hmm........I am just saying about a POSSIBILITY.......not a certainity......

pure speculation.......

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

ha ha........hmm........I am just saying about a POSSIBILITY.......not a certainity......

pure speculation.......

Indeed, and "if wishes were horses ..."

 

[Bushroda]

For doomsayer, mild weather disturbance is storm of the century.

 

[mujahideen]

Pakistan has plowed through many storms. If we were able to make it through the storms of the Partition days, we can overcome anything. This is nothing compared to what happened to us more than 60 years ago.