US offers enhanced strategic ties to Pakistan

Anwar IQBAL

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has reportedly offered Pakistan an enhanced strategic partnership, including additional cooperation in military and economic fields, the US media reported on Monday. Obama made the offer in a two-page letter to President Asif Ali Zardari as a move to ease tension between Islamabad and Washington.

US National Security Adviser Gen James Jones, who delivered the letter to Zardari in Islamabad last week, warned the Pakistanis 'with unusual bluntness' that their 'use of insurgent groups to pursue policy goals cannot continue', The Washington Post reported.

While reporting the move, the US media noted that Pakistan had recently expressed concerns over a suggested US troop surge in Afghanistan, which Islamabad feared would bring more militants into its territory.

In a similar report, The New York Times noted that the Obama administration was also trying 'to allay Pakistani fears that India will fill the vacuum created as America pulls back'. The report, however, said that in his policy speech on Tuesday, Obama was expected to be far less specific about Pakistan because of the fear that it might backfire.

'We agree that no matter how many troops you send, if the safe haven in Pakistan isn't cracked, the whole mission is compromised,' a senior US official who has participated in the months-long debate over the strategy told NYT. 'But if you make too many demands on the Pakistanis in public, it can backfire.'

The NYT also noted that the problems in Afghanistan had been compounded by the fragility of the Zardari government.

'The US administration expects Zardari's position to continue to weaken, leaving him as a largely ceremonial president even if he manages to survive in office,' the Post reported.

The NYT noted that White House officials had said relatively little about the Pakistan side of their war strategy, in part because they had so few options and so little leverage.

'They cannot send troops into Pakistan, and they cannot talk publicly about one of their most effective measures, the CIA's Predator drone strikes in the country.'

The Post quoted Obama officials as saying that they wanted to augment Islamabad's capacity to fight the militants because they believed that they could not win the war in Afghanistan without Pakistan's support.

'We can't succeed without Pakistan,' said one such official who was not identified. 'There is nobody who is under any illusions about this.'

Obama's letter to Zardari outlined a series of incentives to encourage Pakistan to accelerate actions against the extremists.

These include 'enhanced development and trade assistance; improved intelligence collaboration and a more secure and upgraded military equipment pipeline; more public praise and less public criticism of Pakistan'.

Obama also offered to initiate greater regional cooperation among Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

The Post reported that Gen Jones was very precise in conversations with top Pakistani government and military leaders, stating that certain things would have to happen in Pakistan to ensure Afghanistan's security.

The letter he delivered demanded closer collaboration against five extremist groups: Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Pakistani Taliban organisation known as Tehrik-i-Taliban.

If Pakistan could not deliver, Gen Jones warned, the United States might be compelled to 'use any means at its disposal to rout (these) insurgents'.

US media commentators interpreted this warning as saying that 'if you won't bring us the head of Osama bin Laden, we'll get it ourselves'.

The Post noted that Pakistan had been 'the hot core' of the months-long strategy review of Obama's Afghan war policy.

The long-term consequences of failure in Pakistan, the review concluded, far outweighed those in Afghanistan and 'will make Afghanistan look like child's play'.

The Post, however, observed that 'although the Obama administration's goal is to demonstrate a new level and steadfastness of support, short-term US demands may threaten Pakistan's already fragile political stability'.

The Obama administration, according to the Post, was trying to convince Pakistan that 'our commitment to the region is long-term.

We're not going to pack up our bags and leave them as soon as we're done.' - Dawn.com