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calendar   Wednesday - August 20, 2008

Resignation of Pervez Musharraf leaves US policy in a vacuum.  (Some serious reading here)

SO, WHERE EXACTLY DOES THIS LEAVE US?  ANY GUESSES?

The resignation of Pakistan’s resident, Pervez Musharraf, has left a void in US-Pakistani relations at a critical time when Western security officials claim that al-Qaeda has rebuilt its sanctuary on the country’s border with Afghanistan.

By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a hospital in a northwestern Pakistani town that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least 23 people. Five soldiers and 13 Taliban militants were killed in the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Relations with Pakistan and the US got off to a rocky start after the Sept 11 attacks Richard Armitage, the then US deputy secretary of state, forced Mr Musharraf to reverse his country’s pro-Taliban policy.

With typical bravado, Mr Musharraf later remarked of America’s stance: “It goes against the grain of a soldier not to be able to tell anyone giving him an ultimatum to go forth and multiply, or words to that effect.”

Mr Musharraf’s tone underscored the frustration, resentment and distrust that characterise the two allies’ relationship.

But the two countries’ partnership, however flawed, delivered to America limited access to Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the arrest of some leading al-Qaeda members.

A senior Western military official based in the capital, Islamabad, said that the alliance had also helped to foster deeper links with the current Pakistan’s senior military command, in particular, the army chief, Gen Ashfaq Kiyani.

But Mr Musharraf failed to galvanise popular support for the ‘war on terror’ and is suspected of allowing military intelligence to play a double game by maintaining covert support for jihadis and the Taliban.

If true, it has been a ruthlessly cynical policy as Pakistan has sacrificed nearly 2,000 soldiers and paramilitaries fighting in its tribal areas.

The former president most probably harboured a belief commonly-held among Pakistan’s top brass: that America’s anti-terror policy is insincere and is mainly a mask for its strategic regional designs.

The New York Times quoted a senior White House official in a report yesterday who regretted that the US had “stuck with Mr. Musharraf for too long and developed few other relationships in Pakistan to fall back on”.

It cited other senior American officials expressing concern over “the durability of new controls over Pakistan’s nuclear program” and doubts over Gen Kiyani’s commitment to prosecuting the war.

The US will continue its fraught relationship with Pakistan’s military but it will have to forge a new one with its civilian coalition government.

Hussain Haqqani, now Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, was one of the lobbyists who attempted to sell America the idea of “democracy as counter-insurgency”.

His argument was that a popularly elected government will be able to win support for counter-terrorism operations more effectively.

Mr Haqqani also claimed that a civilian government would have less incentive than the military to prolong the “war on terror” as it would not receive billions in military aid.

However, the coalition government has so far proven itself incapable of governing as its two main partners been engrossed in horse-trading and bickering.

After taking power in March, the government tried to use negotiations instead of force to end violence across the country which over the past several years has killed thousands of Pakistanis.

The negotiations brought a lull in violence but also raised concern among allies and in Afghanistan that the talks would only give militants breathing space to regroup and organise cross-border attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan.

“While the two sides wrangle in the full glare of the media, two critical issues are likely to fall by the wayside. The first has to do with bread and butter issues the second has to do with the war on terror which concerns America and the Pakistan Army,” said Najam Sethi, a political analyst and newspaper editor.

“This is an unpopular war. That is why the Army and Mr Musharraf quickly handed over its “ownership to the civilians shortly after the government was formed. I don’t think Mr Zardari will have the time or the inclination to articulate an anti-terror policy that satisfies America,” he added.

Referring to increasing US missile strikes in the tribal areas, Mr Sethi said that the US will probably take further unilateral action on Pakistani soil “regardless of its blowback on Mr Zardari.” Ends

http://tinyurl.com/6rp7nu


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Posted by Drew458   United Kingdom  on 08/20/2008 at 09:07 AM   
Filed Under: • TerroristsWar On Terror •  
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