Still not much of a slack for Pakistan
US President Barack Obama has had a difficult time in office in his first term, and it seems he is not going to have it easy the second time around too. With Congress under strong control of the Republicans, the US president, a Democrat, will have to maneuver his way through extreme opposition and time delaying tactics, putting him at a disadvantage when it comes to financial and legislative decisions. However, executive decisions like the appointment of new Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel have also faced opposition from the Republicans in Senate.
Even though Chuck Hagel is a Republican, and a Vietnam War hero, his own party members turned against him when Obama nominated him for the post. His nomination that was to be confirmed some 12 days ago was delayed by Republican filibuster, and later his whole political career was put under a microscope with questions regarding his stance on US relations with India, Israel and Iran. Agreed that mere his nomination was enough to risk the ire of the opposition, his outstanding track record and considerably open foreign policy was a sure bet to invite the Republicans to stand against one of their own. Heading Pentagon is not going to be easy, particularly so when he will be the chief military strategist during the US withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan. The outgoing Pentagon chief Leon Panetta was one of the staunchest supporters of drone strikes, and Chuck Hagel follows the same trajectory. He, like his predecessors, would be forced to follow official line of the US establishment, which has favoured drone strikes in many conflict areas, including Paskenta. Not a good news for Pakistan, though. However, what Islamabad can get out of his confirmation is that Mr Hagel’s statement that India finances trouble in Pakistan brings an issue that it has been consistently pointing out to Washington right back to the discussion table. The 2014 drawdown date of ISAF forces from our western border might appease the pacifists but there are quite a few hawkish elements on Pakistan’s both eastern and western borders. A nexus between the both, in a decades-old war torn country on that, is not what Pakistan would or should easily let go.
Another point of contention between the Republicans and the Democrats was Hagel’s stand on Palestine and Israel, though that seems to have been contorted by the Republicans to make it look more like an anti-Israel one. However, now that he is in the driving seat he should focus on improving America’s image, particularly in the countries mired in different conflicts.