Slamming Pakistan for refusing to cut ties with the Haqqani network, a leading US daily has said that the military of the ‘crippled and chaotic’ state continues to play a “double game” of accepting aid from America while enabling the Afghan Taliban.
The New York Times said in the editorial piece titled ‘Crippled, Chaotic Pakistan’ that for years Pakistan ignored the Obama administration’s pleas to crack down on militants who cross over to attack American forces in Afghanistan.
Recent cross-border raids by Taliban militants who kill Pakistani soldiers should give Islamabad a reason to take that complaint more seriously, it said.
“Fighting extremists should be grounds for common cause but there is no sign that Pakistan’s military leaders get it. They see the need to confront the virulent Afghan-based insurgency that threatens their own country and has killed thousands of Pakistani soldiers and civilians.
“But they refuse to cut ties with the Haqqanis and other militants, who give Islamabad leverage in Afghanistan and are the biggest threat to American efforts to stabilise that country,” the Times said.
It added that Pakistan’s political system is growing “ever more dysfunctional,” even as the need to take on the border chaos becomes more urgent.
Obama administration officials are “reaching the limits of our patience,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said recently. But the United States cannot just walk away. It needs Pakistan’s help in reopening a critical supply route to Afghanistan and in urging the Taliban to engage in peace talks so that combat troops can be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. It also needs to monitor Islamabad’s growing nuclear arsenal, it said.
Some in Congress want to designate the Haqqanis as a terrorist organization. That would be unwise because such a move could lead to Pakistan’s being designated a terrorist state subject to sanctions and make cooperation even harder. The United States has no choice but to try to work with Pakistan, including the army, when it can, the editorial said.
Officials hope the crisis in relations caused by the killing of Osama bin Laden and other events will pass. Meanwhile, they are holding the Pakistanis more at arm’s length and setting narrower goals; President Obama declined to hold an official meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari at the NATO summit meeting in Chicago in May.
According to the editorial The United States has little choice but to continue drone attacks on militants in Pakistan. It has urged India to become more involved in Afghanistan and on Thursday, a conference was held in New Delhi to urge companies to invest there. That makes sense as long as India’s activities are transparent. Pakistan is paranoid about India, which it sees as a mortal adversary.
After 2001, Pakistan had a chance to develop into a more stable country. It had strong leverage with the United States, which needed help to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Pakistan received billions of dollars in aid and the promise of billions more, which Washington has begun to suspend or cancel. But the army continues its double game — accepting money from the Americans while enabling the Afghan Taliban — and the politicians remain paralyzed. Soon, most American troops will be gone from Afghanistan. And Pakistan will find it harder to fend off its enemies, real and perceived, the editorial said.
Pak military playing double game on Afghanistan: NYT
