Author:
Publication: CATO Institute
Date: May 8, 2002
URL: http://www.cato.org/new/05-02/05-08-02r.html
U.S. should avoid strategic partnership
with country that propped up Taliban regime
As the United States expands its
anti-terrorist operations into Pakistan, a new study from the Cato Institute
argues that Pakistan is an unreliable ally that is likely to turn on America
in the long run.
In "Pakistan in America's War against
Terrorism: Strategic Ally or Unreliable Client?" Cato Research Fellow Leon
Hadar traces the history of U.S. involvement in Pakistan and argues that
the United States has much to lose from a long-term partnership.
In the months before the Sept. 11
attacks, Pakistan was the most important diplomatic and political ally
of the Taliban regime that harbored the al-Qaeda terrorists, Hadar points
out. "[Pervez] Musharraf, as head of Pakistan's military, used his alliance
with radical Muslim clerics to provide legitimacy to his dictatorship,
forming a powerful and destructive 'military-mosque' nexus. With Musharraf
as its head, that political nexus helped transform Pakistan into a magnet
for radical Islamic terrorists in the region and around the world."
After the events of Sept. 11, Pakistan
realized that it was in the country's short-term interest to cooperate
with the United States, Hadar says. First, Musharraf hoped to prevent the
removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, instead replacing it with
"moderate" Taliban who would remain friendly to Pakistan. Second, he hoped
to internationalize the dispute over Kashmir, bringing in the United States
to pressure India not to respond to Pakistani acts of provocation.
But despite pledges of cooperation,
Pakistan's intelligence service continued to provide military and financial
assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hadar says. "Islamabad still
regarded Afghanistan as a strategic ally and ideological associate. Afghan
training camps and Afghan recruits helped to prepare the next Pakistani-instigated
insurgency against the Indians in Kashmir and to spread radical Islamic
ideas and institutions around the world through 'jihad-international' brigades,
some of which were tied to the al-Qaeda network."
Some cooperation between the United
States and Pakistan is necessary to wage the war against terrorism, Hadar
says, but that cooperation must not evolve into a new long-term strategic
alliance. "Washington should view Pakistan, with its dictatorship, failed
economy, and insecure nuclear arsenal, as a reluctant supporter of U.S.
goals at best and as a potential long-term problem at worst."
