Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary

Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary – Part II
Pakistan wants US pressure on India as condition for cooperating against Al Qaeda
Haider Ali Hussein Mullick
YaleGlobal, 15 April 2009

President Obama faces two equally unpleasant alternatives if he wants to defeat Al Qaeda, according to Haider Mullick, Senior Fellow at the US Joint Special Operations University in this second part of a two part series on Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary. These alternatives are: help bolster Pakistan’s security interests in Afghanistan by reducing India’s role there, or be sucked deeper and deeper into Pakistan in a bid to defeat Al Qaeda. Based on extensive interviews with Pakistani civil and military officials, Mullick writes that these officials are deeply concerned by India’s massive aid presence in Afghanistan and its suspected support to Baluchi insurgents in Pakistan’s western border. Unless the US takes a stand against India’s alleged subversive role, they indicated, Pakistan’s cooperation against Al Qaeda will be limited. According to Mullick, a role for moderate pro-Pakistani Taliban in the Kabul government would also help to ensure Pakistani cooperation. But Mullick also calls for an end to heavy-handed counter-insurgency campaigns in Pakistan, political reconciliation between Islamabad and the Taliban, a campaign of public education about the value of cooperation with the US, and making public the US military presence in Pakistan. Without these and other policies put in place, he warns, the US will fail to defeat Al Qaeda and become trapped in Pakistan’s morass. – YaleGlobal

For complete article, click here
For Part I, click here

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