An Unworthy Ally. Time for Washington to Cut Pakistan Loose

Mikesingh

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By C. Christine Fair and Sumit Ganguly

Ever since 9/11, the United States has provided Pakistan with a steady supply of security and nonsecurity assistance. U.S. officials have justified these generous transfers—worth more than $30 billion since 2002—on the grounds that they secure Pakistan’s ongoing cooperation in Afghanistan, bolster Pakistan’s ability to fight terrorism, and give the U.S. government influence over the country’s ever-expanding nuclear weapons program. Failing to deliver this support, the argument runs, could dramatically weaken the will and capacity of Pakistan’s security forces and possibly even lead to the collapse of the Pakistani state. In that event, Pakistan’s nuclear know-how, material, or weapons could well fall into the hands of nefarious actors.

Yet that logic is fundamentally flawed. Many of the weapons Washington gives Islamabad are ill suited to fighting terrorism, and continued transfers will do nothing to convince the Pakistani government to end its long-standing support for terrorist groups. In fact, U.S. assistance gives Pakistan an incentive to foster a sense of insecurity concerning its nuclear arsenal and expanding ranks of jihadists.

Since the current approach has little chance of aligning Pakistan’s interests with those of the United States, the time has come for Washington to change course. If Washington cannot end Pakistan’s noxious behaviors, it should at least stop sponsoring them.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

Pakistan’s reliance on militant proxies is as old as its very existence as an independent state. As early as 1947, when Pakistan was emerging from the collapse of the British Raj, the new government was backing anti-Indian tribal militias in the disputed territory of Kashmir. In Afghanistan, meanwhile, by 1950, Islamabad was promoting a Pakistan-based Islamist party known as Jamaat-e-Islami. Members of that party would later become prominent mujahideen who, with the backing of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), would go on to fight both Afghanistan’s pro-Soviet leaders and Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s. After 1989, Pakistan redeployed these battle-hardened fighters to Indian Kashmir, where they displaced indigenous secular nationalist insurgents in their battle against Indian rule in the province.

Pakistan’s support for nonstate actors has not been limited to Islamist groups. From the late 1970s until the mid-1990s, the Pakistani government funded and trained Sikh separatists in their bloody campaign of terror in India’s Punjab region. It also sponsored various ethnonationalist rebels in northeastern India until the 1970s, when East Pakistan achieved independence as Bangladesh and China cut off its support for the insurgents. Pakistan’s support for these groups attests to its strategic compulsion to work against India, beyond its more commonly appreciated Islamist ideological objectives.

Continued here......https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/pakistan/2015-08-18/unworthy-ally

So why is the US of A still so enamored by Pakistan? The aid keeps flowing in notwithstanding the fact that there is little or no oversight on how it is being spent. Most of these weapons platforms being gifted to Pakistan are useless in a counter insurgency environment. It would be used against India in a conventional scenario as all these systems have been integrated into units that move periodically from their Western theater to the East. These are not sector stores that would be left behind to be taken over by relieving units.

Recently it was discovered that the night vision goggles supplied to the Pak Army by the US for fighting the TTP in Waziristan were issued to the terrorists who were gunned down recently in Jammu as well as in the Valley. This has been confirmed by the US by the NV devices' cat/part numbers etc.

But yet the Americans keep warlike equipment flowing into the the PA's kit bag knowing full well that Pak's 'war on terror' is a sham and a scam of galactic proportions!
 

sorcerer

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C. Christine Fair ALERT!!!

Whats this..sales pitch for US elections justifying the common mindset of average American?
or
justifying the Support for the new found US - India "Strategic" ties?

Whitewash!!! Whitewash!!!

Recently it was discovered that the night vision goggles supplied to the Pak Army by the US for fighting the TTP in Waziristan were issued to the terrorists who were gunned down recently in Jammu as well as in the Valley. This has been confirmed by the US by the NV devices' cat/part numbers etc.
Wasnt India saying this Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong back..that pak terrorists were using the US weapons and support stuff to wage war against India.

he aid keeps flowing in notwithstanding the fact that there is little or no oversight on how it is being spent. Most of these weapons platforms being gifted to Pakistan are useless in a counter insurgency environment.
Eureka...Eurekaa!!!!
 

ezsasa

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C. Christine Fair ALERT!!!

Whats this..sales pitch for US elections justifying the common mindset of average American?
or
justifying the Support for the new found US - India "Strategic" ties?

Whitewash!!! Whitewash!!!



Wasnt India saying this Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong back..that pak terrorists were using the US weapons and support stuff to wage war against India.



Eureka...Eurekaa!!!!
Ask her directly yourself, she is also member of this forum.
 

blue marlin

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C. Christine Fair ALERT!!!

Whats this..sales pitch for US elections justifying the common mindset of average American?
or
justifying the Support for the new found US - India "Strategic" ties?

Whitewash!!! Whitewash!!!



Wasnt India saying this Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong back..that pak terrorists were using the US weapons and support stuff to wage war against India.



Eureka...Eurekaa!!!!
Pakistan to the US:
bush, i need some f16's with aim120-c5 bvraam's to get them terrorists.

US to pakistan:
mmm yeh ok that would be $600 million excluding the f16's, missiles only.
are you sure you need them for terrorists, not india.

Pakistan to US: yeh sure i will use the aid program to pay for them. and india no... never.
pakistan and india are good friends, terrorists only, promise.:biggrin2:


US to Pakistan:
fair enough you got a deal. p.s. if anyone asks there for terrorists not india, i will say it was to get the terrorists.
the Taliban dont have jets but im not going to say that, though
 

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