Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 28, 2011
URL: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-28/us/29482082_1_yousuf-raza-gilani-afghan-president-hamid-karzai-shuja-pasha
The diplomatic form book shows that every
time Pakistan is hauled up by its longtime patron United States, its leaders
hare off to Beijing or Riyadh for solace and stash, comfort and cash. Small
change in the script this time.
Shortly before the top American military
official Mike Mullen virtually called Pakistan a terrorist state last week,
a charge compounded by Wikileaks cables showing Washington's profound distrust
of Islamabad, Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani hotfooted it to
Kabul. There, flanked by his military supremo Ashfaq Kiyani and chief spook
Shuja Pasha, he is said to have made an audacious pitch to the beleaguered
Afghan President Hamid Karzai: Let's both ditch US and hitch our stars to
China.
The development, first reported in the Wall
Street Journal, has stunned Washington at a time US appears confused and vulnerable
on the geo-political and domestic front, with big personnel changes in the
Obama administration, a President seeking re-election, a struggling economy,
and rising tensions across the world. There are cries of betrayal and disbelief
at perceived Pakistani perfidy in some circles, with calls for re-ordering
the relationship.
According to the WSJ account of the April
16 meeting, Gilani bluntly told Karzai that the Americans had failed them
both, the US policy of trying to open peace talks while at the same time fighting
the Taliban made no sense, and he should forget about allowing a long-term
US. military presence in his country.
Gilani also reportedly said America's economic
problems meant it couldn't be expected to support long-term regional development
and argued that a better partner would be China, Pakistan's "all-weather"
friend.
There is no word on whether Karzai, who has
also been having problems with the Obama administration, took the bait. The
Journal said Karzai was wavering on the overtures with pro and anti-American
factions around him trying to sway him to their side.
But there is growing anger in Washington
at Pakistan's gambit, which comes at a time Islamabad is living on US dole
even as Americans tax payers are starting to question US munificence. Pakistan's
finance minister Hafeez Shaikh was in Washington seeking to speed up US aid
and another Washington-supported bail-out from IMF even as Gilani, shepherded
by Kayani and Pasha, was trying to outflank America in Kabul.
Pakistan has expectedly denied the exchanges.
"Reports claiming Gilani-Karzai discussion abt Pakistan advising alignment
away fm US are inaccurate," the country's ambassador to the US., Hussain
Haqqani tweeted on Wednesday. The Pakistani foreign office spokeswoman Tehmina
Janjua termed it "the most ridiculous report we have come across."
But US experts are taking it seriously and
there has been a flurry of analyses on what the Pakistani gambit could lead
to. "Whether the article quotes Gilani accurately is not the central
issue. There have been enough indications over the last year that Pakistan
is not on board with the US. strategy in Afghanistan," said Heritage
Foundation's Lisa Curtis, a former CIA analyst. "It is plausible that
Pakistan has decided to start playing its cards with Afghan and Chinese leaders
to try to achieve its own objectives in Afghanistan."
Some analysts feel the contours of the new
great game in the region point to a confluence of interest between China,
Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia on one side and India, US, Iran and Russia on the
other side. But "China consolidates the former while the US splits the
latter," says Nitin Pai, fellow at the Takshashila Foundation.
A more benign explanation offered by Americans
for the Pak-Afghan tango and the deliberate leaking of its details by Kabul
is that the players are trying to get the best bargain from Washington as
US seeks to withdraw troops from the region. Yet, in a reflection of US. concerns
about Pakistan's overtures, the commander of the US.-led coalition, Gen. David
Petraeus, is said to have met Karzai three times since April 16 to reassure
the Afghan leader that he has America's support and to nudge forward progress
on the strategic partnership deal which will define their future relationship,
including American bases and support.
Pakistan, for obvious reasons, resents and
fears a pro-American, pro-Indian regime in Kabul that will keep out the Taliban
yahoos that Islamabad and its axis backs.
