Much Ado About Nothing
GEO News reported with great zeal that the U.S government agreed to stop attacks in Pakistan, after meeting Pakistan’s Ambassador Husain Haqqani.
But taking a look at Haqqani’s direct quote shows that his meeting with the U.S. National Security Council yielded no change in administration policy.
Haqqani said, “US officials have assured me not to launch strikes on Taliban hideouts by US-led NATO forces within Pakistan territory.”
But NATO forces, U.S.-led or otherwise, are not the ones making incursions into Pakistan. In fact, NATO has said it will not participate in such operations. [France and Germany have also condemned them.]
The ground and Predator attacks inside Pakistan are being conducted by U.S.-only forces, outside of the NATO and ISAF command structure and UNSC mandate.
Ground attacks inside Pakistan are conducted by Navy SEALs. Predator attacks are done largely, if not exclusively, by the CIA.
Plus, Haqqani’s meeting occured with the National Security Council, which along with the National Intelligence Council and the State Department, has advised against unilateral, ground attacks inside Pakistan.
The reality is that Haqqani met with a group that already agreed with him, and like him, has no impact on the adoption of this dangerous Bush administration policy.
Maybe the time has come not to make statements like ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ but rather ‘What is Wrong’? Maybe it is time for Pakistanis, both within and outside Pakistan, to indulge in some introspection.
Maybe the time has come for you to read beyond the title of the post. I would appreciate your comments on the body of the text.
Introspection? In what respect, specifically?
I look with puzzlement upon posts noting, or at least inferring the great injustice of cross border “incursions” by US troops pursuing Taliban insurgents into tribal areas of what is supposedly Pakistan.
These lawless lands are fertile ground to corrupt for whomever happens to be able to bend the local populace to their will, whether it be via money from the uncontrolled drug trade, arms dealing, or even through misguided religious fervor spread amongst those who have been denied education through generations of neglect or apathy. Pakistan apparently is either unable or (more likely) unwilling to bring any semblance of a rule of law to these areas. Given the state of affairs, would not the logical course of action for anyone threatened by this lawlessness be to take the matter into their own hands?
Afghans are impotent to secure their own borders, the U.S. still fears the resurgence of Islamic extremism in this breeding ground of unrest. The net result, the U.S. will act in its best interest. Pakistan runs the knife’s edge choice of covertly supporting the Taliban to threaten Afghan stability, while overtly trying to appease the west with tough talk against terrorist enclaves.
The U.S. can only tolerate the inaction of Pakistan for so long. At some point a breaking point is reached. Most in the U.S. see the Iraq foray as a terrible mistake, these same people however, view the erradication of the Taliban to be a noble cause. The images of 911 are still very vivid to the people of the US, the legacy of those responsible rests with those huddled in the tribal outlands of Pakistan.
Eventually, the US will tire of Pakistan tolerance of those factions. When that happens, if the Pakistan “paramilitary units” try to stand between the U.S. Special Forces and the Taliban, I would not want to be amongst them …
… sooner or later Pakistan will either need to clean up its own mess, or it will be cleaned up for them.