US also responsible for unhealthy civil- military ties in Pak

[JAISWAL]

'US also responsible for unhealthy civil-military ties in Pak' - The Times of India
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WASHINGTON: US shares part of the
responsibility for Pakistan's "unhealthy" civil-
military relationship by supporting the country's
dictators for most of the last century, a top
American expert has said.
"Despite our commitment to democracy, we
have provided little backing to Pakistan's civilian
leaders over the decades. The US is not wholly
responsible for Pakistan's unhealthy civil-military
relationship, but it is not innocent of
responsibility," Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst,
wrote in a forward to the book 'The Future of
Pakistan'.
Brought out by Brookings Institute - a
Washington-based think-tank, the book is a
compilation of a series of articles by eminent
scholars from the US, India and Pakistan,
including Stephen P Cohen, C Christina Fair, Shuja
Nawaj, and Kanti Bajpai.
"For most of the last century the United States
has been a partner of Pakistan's military dictators,
enthusiastically embracing all four generals who
have ruled Pakistan.
"Presidents from Kennedy to Bush have invited
them to the White House for state dinners and
intimate consultations," Riedel wrote in the book
that hit the stands this month.
"We have jointly embarked on great clandestine
projects such as the U2 base in Peshawar in the
late 1950s; Henry Kissinger's secret trip to Beijing
from Islamabad in July 1971; the covert war
against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan that
helped destroy the USSR in the 1980s; and the
battle against al-Qaeda in this century. All were
done with the involvement of Pakistan's military
dictators," he wrote.
Riedel said three years ago President Barack
Obama had called him and asked him to chair an
urgent interagency review of policy toward
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"He (Obama) said that no issue on his foreign
policy agenda was more important than the fate
of Pakistan, which he rightly has described as the
epicenter of the global terrorist threat today," he
said in the forward to the book, adding that
Pakistan is a country of growing, indeed crucial,
importance to the United States and to the rest of
the world.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Riedel said three years ago President Barack
Obama had called him and asked him to chair an
urgent interagency review of policy toward
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"He (Obama) said that no issue on his foreign
policy agenda was more important than the fate
of Pakistan, which he rightly has described as the
epicenter of the global terrorist threat today...

Obama has these panels to do their work, then ignores their recommendations. It is a habit with him.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

USA never cared about Pakistan's civilian side, only interested in having pro-US dictators in power. Why should US worry about their civilians that is what their government is for?

 

[SPIEZ]

Evryone except the extremists are blamed in Pakistan. What a sad state of affairs!

 

[Ray]

US looks after its interest.

It has a long relationship with Pakistan.

It knows that its civilian govt is merely a charade and so it tries to keep appearance correct by shaking hands with the civil govt publicly but does the serious dialogue with the Military since the Military calls the shots.

And since both the Military and the Civil Govt are bonded labour of the US since arms and finance that keeps Pakistan afloat comes from the US, the US occasionally gives two swift kick on their posteriors and have them by the short and curly to keep them on the narrow and straight.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Pakistan has profited nicely in this setup and still yet to deliver on many things.