Robert Gates the US Secretary of Defense during his two day visit to Islamabad in three years had to face a volley of unpalatable remarks, and questions, from journalists and military officers, which according to New York Times made him look like a punching bag. His statements in New Delhi had angered Pakistani, and were interpreted, that he was goading India to continue hanging the sword of democle on Pakistan neck. He did not pacify India war rhetoric and made no secret that in case of another terror attack India reserved the right of military aggression on Pakistan. He said that New Delhi may loose patience with Pakistan after any repeat of Mumbai style attacks. In Delhi he had endorsed Manmohan Singh soft repeated threat of war against Pakistan, if a repeat terrorist attack is not stopped by Islamabad. He trumpeted the Indian line, which implies that terrorists are under the command and control of Pakistan. This is astonishing considering that Pakistan is the foremost target of terrorist suicide bombings and terror attacks.
As a long time CIA top official in the past, and US Secretary of Defense under George Bush and now under Barack Obama, Gates should have shown restraint in his pro-India utterances. No one in Obama Administration has been mired in Pakistan for as long as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, yet is insensitive of Pakistani feelings. He regretted the trust deficit between Washington and Islamabad, and tried to soothe the country gnawing rancor towards the United States.
Some US officials take Pakistan for granted as a boot boy, which could be ordered around to do their bidding. And the questions hurled at Mr Gates by journalists and military officials reflected the Pakistani resentment. New York times reports that during a closed door session with the students and faculty at the National Defense University at Islamabad, a military officer asked, Are you with us or against us? Mr Gates could hardly miss that the Pakistani officer was mimicking former President George Bush. Stunned Secretary Gates replied, Off course we are with you. That indeed was the essence and the message Mr Gates wanted Pakistani to accept. Robert Gates was fully informed about the resentment in Pakistan over US drone attacks and the surge after terrorist attack on the CIA base at Khost. He brushed aside questions on the subject.
In his meetings with Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar and COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, he urged immediate military action in North Waziristan, elimination of the so called Quetta Shura and Haqqani Jehadists. It is good that the Pakistani Army indicated that it would not launch any new offensives against extremists in the mountainous region of North Waziristan for at least six months to one year. NY Times has interpreted this as, pushing back calls by the United States to root out militants staging attacks along the Afghan border. Army spokesman Major General Ather Abbas described Pakistan policy and position without mincing words. This was an unqualified NO to American diktat. Mr. Gates had urged the Defense Minister and top Pakistani military officials to pursue extremist groups along and across the border, and that ignoring one part of this cancer would threaten the entire country stability. But Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, told American reporters at the General Headquarters of the Pakistani Army in Rawalpindi that Pakistan had to contain the extremist groups fully in South Waziristan, in the wake of offensives last year against the insurgents. General Abbas said it would be six months to a year before any new operation began. Reports are surfacing that Pakistani authorities are negotiating peace with Afghanistan based Taliban, and there may be no further military operations in FATA. General Ather Abbas bluntly said that the situation was not as black and white as Mr. Gates described. It was annoying the way Robert Gates was talking to us. He was badly briefed and had not done his home work on the issue of US Drone bombings, which had killed a few militants, but thousands of innocent Pushtun men, women and children. How come he was all sugar and honey in New Delhi, and was handing over hard to digest bitter pills in Islamabad? He did not utter a word about Kashmiri right for self determination; implying that the US supports Indian military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Gates sounded a theme similar to his remarks to reporters, saying that Pakistan had to do more to fight the multiple extremist groups on its Afghan border. Pakistani political leadership, the Foreign Office, the Pakistani media and Pakistani military is sick of the dictation, to do more. Pakistan knows what it needs to do. He pressed Pakistan to root out the Afghan Taliban leadership, the Quetta Shura, which has found refuge in Pakistan Baluchistan province outside the tribal areas. Pakistan silence on this allegation has been misunderstood by Washington.
According to New York Times, American officials are increasingly frustrated that while the Pakistanis have launched offensives against the Pakistani Taliban, they have so far not pursued the Afghan Taliban and another extremist group on their border, the Haqqani network, whose fighters pose a threat to American forces. Maintaining a distinction between some violent extremist groups and others is counterproductive, Mr. Gates stated. Only by pressuring all of these groups on both sides of the border will Afghanistan and Pakistan be able to rid themselves of this scourge for good. Pakistan Foreign Office and the Pakistani political leadership need to come up front, and respond to such provocative allegations forcefully. But while Pakistan is fully engaged in rooting out terrorists on its territory, it is astonishing for Mr Gates to state that Pakistan should pressure such groups across on Afghanistan soil. There is urgent need for closest cooperation between Islamabad and Kabul to discuss and develop joint plans for the elimination of terrorism on both sides of the common border.
NATO, US, Afghan and Pakistani military chiefs have been meeting and discussing such matters from time to time. What they discuss must surface, to enable the media and the public to assess, that all stakeholders are serious to rid the two countries from the menace of terrorism. NATO and the US military do not have a strategy to bring peace to Afghanistan. Military power has failed in Afghanistan, and is not likely to succeed in the future.
India has entered Afghanistan as a spoiler. The Pushtun who are in a majority (65%) detest India. Hamid Karzai has embraced India and Delhi is hugging him in pursuit of its vested interests; one of which is continued turmoil in Pakistan. Karzai wioth US approval plans to handover training of the Afghan armed forces to India. This will have serious implications for Pakistan. India is funding the terrorists and is supplying them with weapons. Robert Gates should have been told that Indian threat of pre-emptive short war in case of another terrorist attack is immoral and unjustified. Pakistan has failed to stop terrorist attacks inside its cities and towns, and is paying a very high price in blood and tears. How on earth can Pakistan stop terrorist criminals crossing into India. India has three million troops-1.5 million Indian Army and 1.5 million para-military. Much of Indo-Pakistan border has been fenced with electrified barbed wire and mines. India needs to cooperate with Pakistan to fight terrorism. Indian jingoism, anti-Pakistan propaganda and threats of war is not the solution. In Delhi, Robert Gates instead of appeasement and flattery, should have spoken out firmly that India should stop brow beating Pakistan; should extend a hand of friendship, to enable both the governments to cooperate on the vital issue of end to terror.
Source:pakobserver.net/
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