United States and Pakistan should stop pretending that they are allies and amicably “divorce,” Pakistan’s former ambassador to Washington said on Wednesday, citing unrealistic expectations that Islamabad will sever its links to extremists.
“If in 65 years, you haven’t been able to find sufficient common ground to live together, and you had three separations and four reaffirmations of marriage, then maybe the better way is to find friendship outside the marital bond,” Hussain Haqqani said, addressing the Center for the National Interest, a Washington think tank.
He said that Pakistan’s military needed to be under greater civilian control, adding that Pakistan’s national interests are defined “by generals, not by civilian leaders.”
The depths of the strained US-Pakistan relationship have come into full public view ever since US unilaterally staged a raid to kill Osama bin Laden last year. Haqqani was ambassador at the time. He repeatedly said that someone in Pakistan knew of bin Laden’s presence, even though he stopped short of blaming Pakistan’s principal intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence directorate (ISI).
“I still think a full proper investigation on the Pakistani side is needed to find out how Osama bin Laden lived in Pakistan and who supported him — within or outside the government,” he said, “I really do not know (who helped bin Laden). All I am saying is that somebody knew.”
He said it was just as unrealistic for Pakistanis to think that the United States would side with Pakistan by launching war on India as it was for the United States to think Pakistan would give up its nuclear weapons or sever ties with extremists.
Describing his vision for a post-alliance future for the United States and Pakistan, Haqqani appeared to downplay US security concerns. He said that Pakistan’s eight-month shut-off of ground supply lines for NATO forces in Afghanistan showed the United States it could rely on more costly routes to the North.
Someone in Pakistan knew of bin Laden’s presence: Haqqani
