Quick question: Why would Pakistan attack the Haqqanis who for two generations have never harmed Pakistani interests and have never attacked Pakistanis anywhere in the world?
There may not be enough Dollars in the world to force the Pakistanis to attack the Haqqanis. The Mehsuds of South Waziristan are a different matter. That is why Islamabad has no love lost for them.
Saeed Shah in an efflugent article in published in the Miami Herald describes the quandry of the Haqqanis prodigiously “To American officials, the Haqqani network is a criminal syndicate with al-Qaida and Taliban ties that is frequently responsible for deadly attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan must sever its ties or risk being branded a supporter of terrorism. To Pakistan, however, the picture is much more complex. Pakistani support for the Haqqanis is tied to Islamabad’s fears for its own future security, and Pakistan is unlikely to surrender that support no matter how much pressure the United States applies, analysts here say”.
This about sums it up-there are areas in which US and Pakistani interests diverge. Shah correctly says that “The gulf between those views promises continued tension between the two supposed allies. For many in Pakistan, Jalaluddin Haqqani is a veteran Afghan jihadist who fought valiantly to free his country from Soviet occupation; it is the U.S., they believe, that is the illegitimate force in Afghanistan”.
Neither Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, nor Admiral Mullen, nor President Obama seem to have understood this paradigm. The US Administration is fed all sorts of misinformation by the likes of Ahmed Rashid, Pervez Hoodboy, Najam Sethi and the writers of dawn.com and its evil twin dailytimes.com.pk. This cabal of WOGs led by the likes of Paracha and Anwar Iqbal are responsible for the current state of affairs between Pakistan and America. A coterie of Ex-Pakistanis and half-Pakistanis act like a mafia in Washington-and inundate the State Department and the Pentagon with data points that end up on policy papers in think tanks, and ultimately influence and form American policy.
The English press in Pakistan is in total control of these Liberal-Fascists who belong to the blame-Pakistan-first crowd. These guys were not elected by anyone and do not represent Pakistan. They however speak for Pakistan on the lecture circuits and are employed by the think tanks.
While Adm. Mike Mullen’s (the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) rhetoric can be written off as the words of a defeating general who was trying to make excuses for his lack of success-the policy makers in Washington are now beginning to realize that he may have exaggerated and bent the truth when he said the Haqqanis a “veritable arm” of the ISI.
Saeed and other analysts are now clearing the fog “the relationship between the Haqqani network and the ISI is more distant and complicated than portrayed by U.S. officials. Understanding that relationship, and the reason it exists, is critical if whatever relationship remains between Islamabad and Washington is to be preserved”.
It is however inconceivable that Admiarl Mullen could have gone to Capitol Hill and made such blatant claims without the support, acquiescence and knowledge of the White House and the State Department. Obviously all this was part and parcel of an orchestrated strategy to put pressure on the Pakistanis.
One Pakistani said it brilliantly “they want to make peace with the Talibs, while the you want us to make war with the Haqqanis.” While the US has asked the UN to take the names of Talibs off the terror list, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “is completing a review of whether the Haqqani network should be designated a terrorist organization”. Saed rightly points out that “Such a designation could complicate relations with Pakistan, which could become subject to sanctions for supporting a terrorist organization. Clinton, however, did not say how soon a decision would come..
Perhaps sanity will previal. She did say that “It is important to realize that while it is not always easy, the United States and Pakistan have vital strategic interests that converge in the fight against terrorism.” However the “review” itself suggests that the Administration is struggling with the decision. The designation would surely not go well in Islamabad as it tries to broker a peace agreement between the Talibs and the Afghan government.
It is matter of fact that Washington itself is responsible for Pakistan reaction to bad American blunders in the Hindu Kush. While the US media is calling the Pakistanis all sorts of names, the fact remains that it was perfidious of the Americans to install an Anti-Pakistan regime in Kabul and give Bharat access to Kabul. Haqqani and the Taliban are important counterweights to bad American policies.
Saifullah Mahsud, executive director of the FATA Research Centre, an independent think tank in Islamabad says “We cooperate with the Haqqanis because they are our long-term allies and our interests coincide in Afghanistan,” Mahsud said. “We see them as important stakeholders in any future Afghan dispensation, and it’s too late for us to find new trustworthy friends there.”
According to Saeed “The Haqqani network is allied to the Taliban and says it works under its ultimate authority, though it is operationally independent. While the Taliban’s strength is in the south of Afghanistan, especially the province of Kandahar, where it was founded, the Haqqani network is entrenched in the east of the country, particularly the provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika. From the east, the Haqqani network is within easy striking range of Kabul, and it has the military capacity for highly ambitious attacks, which makes the group arguably an even bigger threat to the Afghan government than the Taliban”.
Washington has been playing a double game in Kabul. Saeed points them out “Pakistan’s suspicions of the U.S. have been fueled by the fact that Washington has cut Islamabad out of tentative negotiations it has held with representatives of the insurgent leadership, including talks this year in Qatar and Germany with a man considered close to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar and reportedly also to Ibrahim Haqqani, brother of Jalaluddin”.
Aftab Sherpao says it best “America has started a reconciliation process in Afghanistan but they want Pakistan to fight…They want peace over there and war here.”
Saeed correctly states that “there is little the United States can do to wean Pakistan from its ties to the Haqqani network”. Washington already has lost the leverage with the Pakistani Army-by suspending $800 million of annual aid to Rawalpindi. It now has only one thing left-the $3. Billion in Aid that it gives to the civilian government. Cutting off that aid would reduce and eliminate all American influences in Pakistan. HIllary Clinton called the Pressler Amendment the worst foreign policy blunder of American Foreign policy. Repeating that blunder will achive little. That amount of aid is pittance and will be filled by Iran, Saudi Arabia and China.
Saeed prodigiously states that “A U.S. offensive on Pakistani soil against the Haqqani network also is not likely to work. Such an offensive would certainly push public opinion in a dangerously radical direction. More than half the supplies for U.S. troops in Afghanistan pass through Pakistan.
Pakistan is also not likely to launch an armed assault on North Waziristan, where either army would be greeted by a formidable and motley collection of thousands of jihadists”.
So the issue is much deeper and more profound. There are no easy answers for Americans on dealing with Pakistan. Certainly sticks have not worked.
