To spur Pak on terror, US used troop threat (Indian Express june7) Press Trust of India: Washington June 7 : The US intends to keep between 10,000 to 15,000 counter-terrorism troops in Afghanistan, much beyond its troops drawdown in 2014, which could cross over into Pakistan in case of crisis, a top Obama aide had warned Pakistan Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
The aide conveyed this to the Pakistan Army Chief at a secret meeting in Abu Dhabi last October in a bid to spur Pakistan to take strong action against the Haqqani network, a book has claimed. But the threat didn't appear to have made the desired impact, according to the book Confront and Conceal by The New York Times journalist David Sanger which hit the stands on Tuesday.
The book depicts President Barack Obama's crisis moments after taking over the mantle from George Bush. Kayani refused to give any guarantee of taking action against Haqqani network.
The details of a meeting between a three-member presidential delegation led by the National Security Adviser, Tom Donilon, and Kayani have been made public for the first time. Donilon was accompanied by Mark Grossman, the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Douglas Lute, Obama's top advisor on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Donilon had sent ahead a document laying out the long-term American strategy, including a plan to keep somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 US counterterror troops in Afghanistan, mostly at Bagram Airfield, to protect the interests of the US in the region." "His meaning was clear: the US would remain, and its troops would be ready to go over the Pakistani border if they needed to," Sanger writes in his book.
The US told Kayani they had incriminating evidence about the two bold attacks against Americans in Afghanistan, the journalist wrote, but noted that even this did not have any impact on Kayani. Kayani sough assurance from the US that there would be no repeat of raid like the one that killed Osama bin Laden. "We will undertake whatever steps we need to protect our forces," Donilon said. "We would prefer to act jointly. But if you refuse.... we will come in and do what we have to do."
The book also speaks about the security nightmare Obama experienced after assuming office in 2009, when faced with the possibility of the Pakistan Taliban acquiring a nuclear bomb.
US intelligence told the President during a key Oval office meeting that they had received information about Taliban acquiring a nuclear bomb, says the latest book by Sanger, adding Obama's aides also worried about the leak of the news to both India and Pakistan.
Though the US intelligence community had sketchy details on the "bomb scare", Obama decided to dispatch a nuclear-detect-and disablement team to the region.
"But they dared not step into Pakistan itself, where the government would have a tough time explaining why there were foreigners with nuclear-detection equipment wandering around."
Sanger said there was also the possibility, lurking in the back of Obama's mind, that the loose weapon — if there was one —could be headed for New York, Washington, or some other US city. "It was a pretty tense series of conversations."
