Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 14, 2010
URL: http://dailypioneer.com/255745/A-dangerous-game.html
US takes one step forward, two steps back
Though it comes as a surprise, US President
Barack Obama's recent comment at a joint Press briefing with Afghan President
Hamid Karzai in Washington that Pakistan has a "cancer" gnawing
at its innards and it is this, not India, that should preoccupy Islamabad,
gives us little reason to believe that there is change in American policy
on the horizon. The fact is that the US seems to be getting used to taking
one step forward and two steps back. It is not that the Obama Administration
doesn't know that powerful elements within the Pakistani establishment are
helping jihadi organisations carry out their nefarious designs - US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton has already said quite a lot about this - but right
now Mr Obama and his team are more interested in disengaging from Afghanistan
as soon as possible - July 2011 has been set as the date for the beginning
of withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. And it is in order to meet this
deadline that Mr Obama, despite not being unaware of Pakistan's real intentions,
insists on persisting with his current approach to the AfPak problem: Keep
Pakistan in good humour and hope that it cracks down on terrorist organisations
that directly pose a security threat to US troops across the Durand Line.
The fact that the US is unwilling to link civilian and military aid to Pakistan
with the latter's performance on the terror front shows how convinced Washington
is that its present course of action will work.
It doesn't take much to realise just how short-sighted
the Obama Administration's approach is. It continues to view the problem of
Pakistan-sponsored terrorism simply in terms of the impact it has on its own
interests in Afghanistan. Of late it has even started promoting the bogus
concept of a political solution to the situation in Afghanistan that will
seek to co-opt those elements of the Taliban that give up their association
with Al Qaeda. Nothing can be more absurd. It is absolutely suicidal to discriminate
between jihadi groups simply on the basis of nomenclature. The fact is that
whether it is Al Qaeda or the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba or the Taliban, they all come
from the same ideological mould that seeks to establish a global Islamic caliphate
through jihad against non-believers. Besides, the follies of the Obama Administration's
discriminative approach can have bizarre consequences. It is astonishing that
the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan is still not on the US terror list. This is
despite the fact that the the group has openly declared war on US citizens
and was responsible for the recent Times Square bomb plot. It is precisely
because Washington believes that it can do business with certain sections
of the Taliban that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan is still not officially
classified as a terrorist organisation.
Meanwhile, Islamabad continues to selectively
target only those jihadis that it feels won't be amenable to doing business
with the Pakistani establishment. Simultaneously, it chooses to turn a blind
eye to jihadis like Hafiz Mohammad Saeed who have openly declared jihad against
India, for they represent Pakistan's 'strategic assets' to wage an undeclared
war on India. Unless and until the Obama Administration recognises the pitfalls
of its present AfPak strategy - which will leave Afghanistan in a vulnerable
position post-2012, making it an easy prey for Pakistan to re-establish its
hold over that country - jihadi terrorism will continue to be the scourge
of the global community.
