US provides cover to Pakistan on proliferation, terrorism - US - World - The Times of India
WASHINGTON: Not for the first time, the United States has downplayed reports of alleged Pakistans nuclear transgressions and promotion of
terrorism even as American lawmakers are getting increasingly restive about a nominal ally having become the crossroad where terrorism and nuclear proliferation meet.
Because Washington is largely dependent on Islamabad for getting supplies to its 68,000 troops in landlocked Afghanistan, US officials are glossing over worrying reports ranging from clandestine nuclear transfers between Pakistan and China, to the Pakistani military running terror camps under the CIAs nose, in order not to offend Islamabad.
On Friday, US officials had to again bat for Pakistan after embarrassing disclosures on the eve of President Obamas visit to Beijing about the long-running China-Pakistan nuclear nexus, even as two US Congressmen demanded a probe into the Pakistani connection of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged gunman who mowed down 13 people at a military base in Texas.
Demanding a Congressional inquiry, the lawmakers Pete Hoekstra (a former CIA Director) and Michael McCaul (a former prosecutor) spoke of money transfers Major Hasan (who is a US citizen of Palestinian origin) had made to Pakistan, recalling another famous money transfer from Pakistan to 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta that was never adequately probed or explained.
Major Hassans ''Pakistani connection'' comes on the heels of several other terrorist investigations in the US, including those involving Denver truck driver Najibullah Zazi, a jihadi mob in Virginia, and the Chicago
duo of Daood Gilani and Rana Tawassur, where in each case the trail has led to Pakistan.
Washington also had the mortification of having a French investigator claim last week that the CIA winked at a Lashkar-e-Taiba terror camp run by the Pakistani military as long as it did not train westerners. The
shocking allegation comes on the eve an expected visit to New Delhi next week of CIA Director Leon Panetta to discussed terrorism and security-related issues.
On Friday, US officials brushed aside fresh disclosures about the China-Pakistan nuclear exchanges, suggesting it was all so long ago (during the Reagan era, one official pointed out) and all was hunky-dory now.
''This is about something that happened in the early 80s, I believe. And I dont have any comment on that specific incident,'' State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said about disclosures that China had given
Pakistan 50 kilograms of bomb grade uranium and a do-it-yourself kit to enable Islamabad go nuclear in the 80s.
''We feel confident that the command and control of nuclear weapons in Pakistan is secure,'' Kelly said, adding to a stream of official endorsements for Pakistan that run against privately expressed concerns. ''And
we dont have any specific concerns about proliferation per se from specifically from Pakistan.''
Asked if the US had raised the issue with China in the past, Kelly said he just didnt have that information and since '''this was almost 30 years ago, so its difficult for me to say.''
The three-decade old incident that Kelly dismissed has actually only recently been revealed, not by any western source, but by Pakistans own nuclear godfather A.Q.Khan, who has been ratting on the Pakistani government and its military, ostensibly because he is sore they humiliated him by making him the fall guy for the official proliferation and incarcerated him to boot.
The US is loath to call both Pakistan and China to account, because it is indebted to both countries literally so to China because of the nearly trillion dollar Chinese credit that keeps America spending, and to
Pakistan for its supply route to Afghanistan. So anxious is Washington not to offend Pakistan that successive US administrations have not made any attempt to question A.Q.Khan on proliferation even though he has been spilling his guts out to a western journalist now.
But at least on terrorism, some lawmakers are starting to express concern. Amid growing debate in the US over whether Major Hasans shooting spree constituted terrorism or was a random massacre, a Texas lawmaker sought a congressional hearing by the Homeland Security panel to examine Hasan's possible ties to terrorist groups, and who he had contact with before the Nov 5 shootings.
''This Pakistan connection just raises more red flags about this case and demonstrates why it's important for Congress to exercise its oversight authority,'' Representative Michael McCaul said, referring to alleged money transfers and phone calls that Major Hasan made to Pakistan.
WASHINGTON: Not for the first time, the United States has downplayed reports of alleged Pakistans nuclear transgressions and promotion of
terrorism even as American lawmakers are getting increasingly restive about a nominal ally having become the crossroad where terrorism and nuclear proliferation meet.
Because Washington is largely dependent on Islamabad for getting supplies to its 68,000 troops in landlocked Afghanistan, US officials are glossing over worrying reports ranging from clandestine nuclear transfers between Pakistan and China, to the Pakistani military running terror camps under the CIAs nose, in order not to offend Islamabad.
On Friday, US officials had to again bat for Pakistan after embarrassing disclosures on the eve of President Obamas visit to Beijing about the long-running China-Pakistan nuclear nexus, even as two US Congressmen demanded a probe into the Pakistani connection of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged gunman who mowed down 13 people at a military base in Texas.
Demanding a Congressional inquiry, the lawmakers Pete Hoekstra (a former CIA Director) and Michael McCaul (a former prosecutor) spoke of money transfers Major Hasan (who is a US citizen of Palestinian origin) had made to Pakistan, recalling another famous money transfer from Pakistan to 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta that was never adequately probed or explained.
Major Hassans ''Pakistani connection'' comes on the heels of several other terrorist investigations in the US, including those involving Denver truck driver Najibullah Zazi, a jihadi mob in Virginia, and the Chicago
duo of Daood Gilani and Rana Tawassur, where in each case the trail has led to Pakistan.
Washington also had the mortification of having a French investigator claim last week that the CIA winked at a Lashkar-e-Taiba terror camp run by the Pakistani military as long as it did not train westerners. The
shocking allegation comes on the eve an expected visit to New Delhi next week of CIA Director Leon Panetta to discussed terrorism and security-related issues.
On Friday, US officials brushed aside fresh disclosures about the China-Pakistan nuclear exchanges, suggesting it was all so long ago (during the Reagan era, one official pointed out) and all was hunky-dory now.
''This is about something that happened in the early 80s, I believe. And I dont have any comment on that specific incident,'' State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said about disclosures that China had given
Pakistan 50 kilograms of bomb grade uranium and a do-it-yourself kit to enable Islamabad go nuclear in the 80s.
''We feel confident that the command and control of nuclear weapons in Pakistan is secure,'' Kelly said, adding to a stream of official endorsements for Pakistan that run against privately expressed concerns. ''And
we dont have any specific concerns about proliferation per se from specifically from Pakistan.''
Asked if the US had raised the issue with China in the past, Kelly said he just didnt have that information and since '''this was almost 30 years ago, so its difficult for me to say.''
The three-decade old incident that Kelly dismissed has actually only recently been revealed, not by any western source, but by Pakistans own nuclear godfather A.Q.Khan, who has been ratting on the Pakistani government and its military, ostensibly because he is sore they humiliated him by making him the fall guy for the official proliferation and incarcerated him to boot.
The US is loath to call both Pakistan and China to account, because it is indebted to both countries literally so to China because of the nearly trillion dollar Chinese credit that keeps America spending, and to
Pakistan for its supply route to Afghanistan. So anxious is Washington not to offend Pakistan that successive US administrations have not made any attempt to question A.Q.Khan on proliferation even though he has been spilling his guts out to a western journalist now.
But at least on terrorism, some lawmakers are starting to express concern. Amid growing debate in the US over whether Major Hasans shooting spree constituted terrorism or was a random massacre, a Texas lawmaker sought a congressional hearing by the Homeland Security panel to examine Hasan's possible ties to terrorist groups, and who he had contact with before the Nov 5 shootings.
''This Pakistan connection just raises more red flags about this case and demonstrates why it's important for Congress to exercise its oversight authority,'' Representative Michael McCaul said, referring to alleged money transfers and phone calls that Major Hasan made to Pakistan.
