Author: PTI
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 4, 2010
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/233757/Pak-continuing-support-to-Taliban-and-Haqqani-group--US.html
Pakistan is continuing support to the Taliban
and the Haqqani network as part of its back up plan to secure their western
border in case the US leaves Afghanistan, a top US intelligence official has
said.
"They've got a backup plan," Dennis
C Blair, Director of the National Intelligence told a Congressional hearing
saying that by continuing to support the Taliban and the Haqqani network,
Pakistan is playing both ends against the middle.
Though Islamabad has been saying that it has
snapped its links with the Taliban, Blair's comments clearly reflect the US
view that Pakistan is maintaining ties and support to these groups.
The US national intelligence chief said that
Islamabad also continues to provide support to other Pakistan groups that
were operating in Afghanistan.
He said the safe havens that the insurgents
have in Pakistan's tribal areas in Al-qaeda's most important outside support.
"Disrupting that safe haven won't be
sufficient by itself to defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan, but disrupting
that presence in Pakistan is a necessary condition for making overall progress
in Afghanistan," he said. Blair told the senate heearing that the jump
in terrorist attacks within the country had made Pakistani public more concerned
about the threat from Islamic extremists including al Qaeda.
"Pakistanis continue to support the use
of military force against insurgents in their country and Islamabad has demonstrated
determination and persistence in combating the militants," he said.
Elaborating on US plans, Blair said "I
think our job is to work together so that their plan and our plan is the same
one. But it has its roots in this historical memory and in the geographic
strategic position of Pakistan."
"One of the main things affecting Pakistani
thinking is the events of the early 1990s when after the Soviet Union left
Afghanistan, the United States left Afghanistan.
"The Pakistanis, I think, understand
what we feel, that they do not want an unfriendly country on their western
border that is hostile to them.
"Looking to the future, US and coalition
successes against the insurgency in Afghanistan could provide new long-term
incentives for Pakistan to take steps against Afghan-focused militants and
increased Pakistani cooperation is more likely if Pakistan is persuaded that
the United States is committed to stabilizing Afghanistan and is capable of
doing so," Blair said.
