US, Pakistan need to establish each others limitations
* Lisa Curtis says Pakistan should understand unilateral peace deals are counterproductive
* Pentagons Col Smith says Washington feels agreements with insurgents must be enforceable
* Pentagons Col Smith says Washington feels agreements with insurgents must be enforceable
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: While the United States should accept the fact that Pakistans fight against terrorism is going to be long-term, Pakistan should also shift its India-centric defence policy to one that is geared towards grappling with the rise of the Taliban and other radical forces on its northwestern border, a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation was told on Tuesday.
This was stated by Lisa Curtis, who moderated a discussion on the rise of insurgency and radicalism in Pakistan and the resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the countrys tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The other two who took part in the discussion were Shuja Nawaz, author of a recent book on the Pakistan Army and Col (r) David Smith of the Pentagon, who served as the US military attaché in Islamabad in the 1990s.
Curtis stressed that strong military ties between the US and Pakistan are crucial but the current relationship between the two countries is proving highly frustrating for both. At times, they appear to be moving in opposite directions. She said it would be incorrect to blame the recently elected civilian government for the unrest in the countrys Afghan border.
Peace deals:
The peace deals now being concluded are an extension of deals entered into earlier. The US does not object to peace deals as such, as long as they are not unilateral. Pakistan, she said, has no clear strategy but it should understand that unilateral peace deals are counterproductive. The US on its part should realise that military strikes alone will not produce a solution to the problem of terrorism.
Col Smith spoke about the rocky history of US-Pakistan relations with their dizzying highs and lows. The challenge today, he said, was the sustenance of that bilateral relationship. He said there is a trust deficit between the two countries. When the US asks Pakistan to do more, Pakistan sees that as Washingtons failure to appreciate all that it has so far done in the war on terrorism, including the loss of 1,000 of its fighting men. However, Pakistan can and must do more because the US cannot allow Al Qaeda to regroup in areas that are part of Pakistan.
Agreements:
Washington, Smith said, is not against peace agreements Pakistan has been trying to make with insurgents but it feels strongly, among other things, that such agreements must be enforceable, ensure the ouster of foreign elements, not involve the withdrawal of the Pakistan army from the FATA areas, and guarantee that there are no cross-border attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistan. The US, for its part, must not place conditions on the assistance it renders to Pakistan, since such conditions are a reminder to Pakistan of such past restrictions as the Pressler amendment.
Influence:
Nawaz told the meeting that US-Pakistan relations are riddled with paradoxes. Right now, they are on a downward slope and unless steps are taken to arrest this slide, they are headed for a train wreck. The US by its support of military regimes in Pakistan has been viewed as wedded to a single-item agenda, something that needs to change now that a civilian government is in office. Pakistan lives in a tough neighbourhood and while no war is likely with India in the near short term, Washington should use its influence to persuade New Delhi to remove long-term irritants, such as the unresolved issue of Kashmir, in its relationship with Pakistan. He said one can only hope that in its twilight months, the Bush administration will not launch a military strike against Iran, because if that happens, the streets of Pakistan will be awash with protest. Such a strike will also convince the Pakistani people that the US is intent on subjugating Islamic countries in order to control the worlds oil resources. Nawaz told the meeting that not all attacks inside Afghanistan emanate from Pakistan-controlled areas, as is alleged. However, Pakistan must also end its ambivalence in relation to radical groups. If the army has any relationship with such groups, it must be severed. He also rejected a claim as utterly without basis that was recently made by the western medias favourite Afghanistan expert, Ahmed Rashid, who said that the Pakistan army is withdrawing from the border with Afghanistan and being deployed on the eastern border against India. Nawaz said that at least three divisions of the Pakistan Army, besides the Frontier Constabulary (FC) remain deployed in the area. The Pakistan Army, he said, is a conventional army, which is not trained to fight insurgencies. The US should provide the training and equipment Pakistan needs to accomplish that arduous task.
During question hour, it was asked if it was fair on the part of Afghanistan and the US to accuse Pakistan of cross-border terrorism, when Kabul refuses to recognise the Durand Line as the international border. The panellists also agreed that the history of Afghanistan and Pakistans tribal regions showed that foreign presence, especially the presence of foreign troops, has always been resolutely resisted by the people of this region.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
