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Last Tango Between the US and Pakistan
BY
RAVI M. KHANNA
The
tension between Islamabad and Washington is being stretched to the
limit. Reports from Washington say US officials are trying to
"limit" its counter-terrorism alliance with Pakistan. But this
time, it appears, the situation could be more damaging, especially for
Islamabad, because its duplicity and denials are being exposed as it
possibly dances its last tango with Washington.
This could be serious because the presidential election in the US is
less than a year away, and the American people are fatigued and fed up
spending trillions of dollars on the Afghan war and on Pakistan at a
time when some unemployed families have almost nothing to put on their
dinner tables.
According to some surveys, most Americans believe Pakistan should not be
given any aid because it has not been honest in its dealings with the
US. So Americans do not trust Pakistan. Pakistanis have been blaming the
US for all their troubles.
The irony is it was the Afghan situation that brought the two together;
again, it is Afghanistan that is driving a wedge between the two
so-called allies. What was clear to serious South Asia watchers a decade
ago is now becoming clearer to everyone. The US and Pakistan say they
are allies, but in fact they are at cross-purposes in Afghanistan.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf decided to join Bush in the
war against Al Qaeda after 9/11 because India offered its help to fight
terror. Musharraf feared India may use its new rapport with the US to
expose Pakistan's covert role in spreading terrorism in Indian Kashmir
and elsewhere.
The US was also comfortable in accepting Pakistan's help as it had used
it to fight a proxy war against the Soviet Union. So Bush had no qualms
using Pakistan a frontline state to break the Al Qaeda and Taliban
nexus. It was clear to some experts, however, that this alliance was
fragile, born out of convenience.
The dichotomy is now loud and clear. The US wants a free and democratic
Afghanistan that will help further US foreign policy goals.
But Islamabad fears a democratic Afghanistan will be very close to
India. And the only way Pakistan can keep India out of Afghanistan is
through the Taliban. Pakistani officials have said they will not let
India flank their country from the east and the west.
So, over the last 10 years Pakistan pretended to help the US, but only
to the extent where Washington will continue to give economic and
military aid to Pakistan. At the same time, Islamabad wanted to make
sure that once international forces quit Afghanistan, the Taliban would
take over and limit the Indian presence.
That is why it fights the Taliban in Pakistan but avoids US pressure to
kill or capture the militants belonging to the Haqqani faction of
Taliban creating havoc for US forces in Afghanistan.
So, with their own hidden agendas, Pakistan and the US have been
indulging in a tango. It could prove to be the last tango for Islamabad.
Musharraf used Bush as an ATM. Whenever economic or military aid to
Pakistan was under discussion in Washington, he freed one or two Al
Qaeda leaders. His critics have alleged that he even handed over some
innocent Pakistanis as Al Qaeda activists to win American favors.
But Barack Obama, right from the beginning, has refused to tango with
the Pakistani military chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Even as the
presidential candidate he declared he will not hesitate to bomb
Pakistani territory if terrorists take refuge there. Now, with his
second term at stake, Obama has to look tougher than even before.
Ravi
M. Khanna is a Washington-based observer of South Asia. He has
headed the South Asia Desk at Voice of America newsroom. This article
first appeared in South Asian Post.
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