Pakistan to advocate joint Pak-US-NATO terror strategy
* Islamabad tasks embassy in Washington with reversing anti-Musharraf sentiment
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: Islamabad has kicked off a campaign advocating a joint Pakistan-US-NATO strategy for Afghanistan, with efforts aimed at rallying support for its views on the war on terror policy, official sources said on Monday.
The lobbying aims at devising a workable strategy for Pentagon-NATO-Pakistan ... to take the war on terror to [its] logical end, officials privy to military operations in Pakistans Tribal Areas confided to Daily Times on condition of anonymity.
The Pakistan Embassy in Washington has been tasked with advocating Pakistans views on operations in the Tribal Areas and coalition-led operations in Afghanistan, the sources said.
This comes on the heels of escalating criticism of Musharraf and Pakistan not coming up to US expectations in producing results in the war on terror. Islamabad rejects these allegations, saying it is doing much more than others. Pakistan is frustrated with the US and NATO having no strategy regarding either Afghanistan or Pakistan, the officials said. The annoyance stems from the US and NATO looking at Pakistan through Afghanistans eyes. The US has been throwing some of the blame on Pakistan unjustly while looking at failures in Afghanistan, the officials said. We feel Afghanistan and Pakistan have to be dealt with differently.
The visit of Harlan K Ullman a senior military analyst with close ties to policy-makers in Washington and to NATO commanders is seen as part of the stepped up lobbying effort. . Ullman can pull a lot of strings in policy formulation. He personally knows Admiral Fallon, the commander of CENTCOM, the NATO supreme commander, and the NATO forces commander in Afghanistan, and enjoys enough influence to affect a favourable outcome on a joint Pakistan-US-NATO policy for Afghanistan, the officials said. The officials said Islamabad had warned the US and NATO that independent ventures in Tribal Areas or settled districts would be extremely detrimental to regional stability. Dr Ullman said that he shared Pakistans concerns in a lecture delivered at the Area Study Centre on Saturday.
Reversing anti-Musharraf: The Pakistan Embassy in Washington has also been tasked with winning back support for President Musharraf. The US media likened the opposition parties victory in the recent polls to a referendum on the president, which went against him. Efforts must be made to change the anti-Musharraf attitude to pro-Musharraf behaviour among people who influence policy-makers, especially at the Pentagon, the officials said.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
