While recognizing Pakistan’s vital importance in the region, US Senator John McCain said Washington must operate realistically in the bilateral ties and alleged that Pakistani intelligence has relationship with the Afghan Haqqani group, which is working against Americans in Afghanistan.
The former Republican presidential candidate, responding to a question on U.S.-Pakistan relations at a Washington think tank, echoed the oft-repeated assertion that Pakistan needed to sever its alleged ties with the Haqqani network. “Pakistan is vital to United States national security interests for a broad variety of reasons, including the nuclear inventory that Pakistan has, including the fact that Pakistan’s role in the region is vital, not to mention relations with India,” he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “But we have to operate in our relations with Pakistan with the realization that the ISI has close relations with the Haqqani network, and they are carrying out activities that kill Americans. Now, that’s just an assessment that cannot be refuted by the facts, and it saddens me.,” he claimed.
McCain noted that “one of the gravest mistakes in recent history was the so-called Pressler Amendment, which basically cut off our military-to- military relations, and we are paying, still paying a very heavy price for.”
He disagreed with the argument that Pakistan is a failed state. “I don’t argue that, but I do – could argue plausibly that the politics in Pakistan are very, very unsettled, to say the least.” He underscored that “it is in our interest to have good relations with Pakistan. It is in our interest to aid Pakistan and try to assist them to a better democracy and a lessening of corruption and a severing of relations between the ISI and the Haqqani network.” “But we cannot force it,” he added. “If there is any lesson we should have to learn over and over again, we can’t force the Pakistani government and people to change their ways unless they want to. “And it’s so disheartening sometimes to see the lack of progress towards a meaningful democracy and rule of law and all the things that we would hope that the Pakistanis might achieve. But whether we are successful in persuading them or not, Pakistan will remain a country that is vital to United States national security interests. I don’t have to draw for you the various scenarios of a breakdown in their government.” “So I hope we will continue to work with the Pakistanis in every possible way we can, but we must take a totally realistic approach to our relations with Pakistan.”
John McCain can't be more correct when he says that the gravest mistake was the Pressler amendment. This amendment left Pakistan high and dry with increased sense of insecurity. To overcome this insecurity and reduce threats to its existence Pakistan on one hand continues to build up nuclear weapons and uses non state actors "Haqqani group" to further its strategic interests. US has to realize that they are responsible for organizing arming and using non state actors against Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Though these non state actors have done more harm to Pakistan than to USA, nevertheless, this fact can't be denied that it is the policies of USA in this region that have increased Pakistan's reliance on non state actors.
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