News Analysis
Brethren, today I wish to comment on the following three news clips:
Karzai Told to Dump U.S. - Pakistan Urges Afghanistan to Ally With Islamabad, Beijing. Pakistan is lobbying Afghanistan's president against building a long-term strategic partnership with the U.S., urging him instead to look to Pakistan—and its Chinese ally—for help in striking a peace deal with the Taliban and rebuilding the economy, Afghan officials say. The pitch was made at an April 16 meeting in Kabul by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who bluntly told Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the Americans had failed them both, according to Afghans familiar with the meeting. Mr. Karzai should forget about allowing a long-term U.S. military presence in his country, Mr. Gilani said, according to the Afghans. Pakistan's bid to cut the U.S. out of Afghanistan's future is the clearest sign to date that, as the nearly 10-year war's endgame begins, tensions between Washington and Islamabad threaten to scuttle America's prospects of ending the conflict on its own terms. - Pakistan's ISI has a 'relationship' with the Haqqani Network: Admiral Mullen. During a visit designed (at least on the surface) to improve the crumbling US-Pakistan relationship, Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, broached a sore subject in Islamabad (and more importantly, Rawalpindi, the real seat of power): Pakistan's support for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. [Note the original quote and format below was from Dawn, but the link is no longer valid, see here for a version.
- An of course, the killing of Osama Bin Laden in a military city deep inside Pakistan, and the subsequent embarrassed reactions of the establishment in said country (here and here), amidst persisting questions of Pakistani complicity or rank ineptitude.
Now that I’ve been in the Outremer for a while, and that I have seen rescue helicopters lifting up and landing – I say a prayer every time I see one – and my share of funerals stateside, I’ve got an opinion.
In the US we say when we want someone to have an epiphanic conversion leading to a change of direction in life, that such a person needs to “Come to Jesus”, without necessarily meaning a conversion to Christianity. The phrase has become a figure of speech without religious connotations. But, since I don’t want to be accused of cultural insensitivity, I will rephrase it this way: Pakistan needs to “come to Allah.” Pakistan’s leaders need to recognize that they have reached a watershed in their relations with the US and that a clear path is ahead of them: they are either with us or with the terrorists. The Obama Administration is probably loath to express itself in this timeless Bushism, but I believe they have recognized that Pakistan should be presented with the clear choice.
Their denials notwithstanding, and their adolescent rant about the violation of their sovereignty by the US, it seems to me that Pakistan’s military and intelligence elites do support the Haqqani terrorist cartel in Afghanistan, as well as the “good Taliban” commanders who have found refuge in their country, at the cost of numerous American and coalition lives. They play this game to avoid an Indian ascendancy over Pakistan in a future free and peaceful Afghanistan and in this manner, avoid the “Indian encirclement” of Pakistan. Because for Pakistan, the one and principal enemy is India, a huge, boisterous democracy next door where prosperity has begun to dawn.
The civilian government in Pakistan is powerless to control the military and intelligence establishment which are the final arbiters of Pakistan’s political destiny. The Pakistani civilian politicians deny knowledge of their military and intelligence establishment’s ongoing support to terrorists in Pakistan and the civilian authorities may be clueless indeed, but that’s by design.
As an American, I’m tired of Pakistani excuses, denials, and procrastination on the issue of terrorism. I also take deep offense at their attempt to induce Karzai to align himself with Pakistan and China because we were “a power in decline.” Shortly after, this “power in decline” reached out deep into their country and killed the most wanted man in the world, emptied his lair of every juicy tidbit of information and left before their third-rate military could react and I am happy at this slap in the face.
But what concerns me the most are the American and coalition casualties that will be due to Pakistan’s support to the Haqqani gang and the Taliban. I suggest to our President and Congress that if Pakistan chooses wrongly in this war and the casualties keep coming thanks to Pakistani support to the terrorists, that we invite India into the International Stabilization and Assistance Force (ISAF), invite India’s military along, and place Indian advisors on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. I think that will stem the violence, and also be poetic justice of sorts.
Pakistan, whether we go that way or not, is for you to decide. Choose wisely.