RabzonKhan
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The terrorism riddle
Editorial
December 09, 2008
PAKISTAN, never far from the news, has been firmly in the international spotlight since the Mumbai attacks. The steady drip of leaks from investigators in India and comments by Indian and American officials suggest that a Pakistani connection to the Mumbai attacks has been irrefutably established, at least in the eyes of the wider world. There is, however, a second, sometimes unspoken line of allegations against Pakistan: that we are a state with weak governance where terrorist groups have long run amok. Enough is enough, now put your house in order, the world led by India and the US is saying to Pakistan. We wish the world, and in particular the US, was not so selective in its memories of what has brought Pakistan to such a pass.
If Lashkar-i-Taiba has grown to a position of such strength that it could execute the Mumbai attacks with consummate ease, it has not done so in a vacuum. The Lashkars capabilities grew on the watch of Gen Musharraf, a military strongman supported by American dollars and a White House that believed he was its best bet to take on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas. Even as it became clear that Gen Musharraf was not delivering on American demands and was possibly playing a dangerous double game by covertly supporting some militant groups, the Americans steadfastly stood by their man.
The past year provided a particularly unedifying juxtaposition of a desperate general clinging to power and the resurgence of the two largest political parties, the PPP and the PML-N, both of which unambiguously support closer ties with India. Throughout that tussle the US remained a silent spectator, keen not to upset a fading dictator. So militancy is a problem in the region not only because of Pakistans numerous sins of commission but also because of the sins of the US, whose interests in Afghanistan led it to back a ruler who made neither Pakistan nor the region safer.
Making the region a safe place is no easy task now. The torching of 150 trucks laden with Nato supplies and vehicles outside Peshawar on Sunday confirms that a dangerous game of whack-a-mole is under way hit the militants in one area and they pop up in another. This is possible because the militants are neither a monolith nor neatly divisible into separate groups; they have overlapped and melded in ways that have extended their overall reach. So for Pakistan the priority then must be to push back against all militants, not just the ones that the US or India wants us to stamp out. To do so would require a well-thought-out plan. However, no plan will succeed if foreign countries regard terrorism in Pakistan in a piecemeal way that only narrowly focuses on their own interests.
The terrorism riddle
Editorial
December 09, 2008
PAKISTAN, never far from the news, has been firmly in the international spotlight since the Mumbai attacks. The steady drip of leaks from investigators in India and comments by Indian and American officials suggest that a Pakistani connection to the Mumbai attacks has been irrefutably established, at least in the eyes of the wider world. There is, however, a second, sometimes unspoken line of allegations against Pakistan: that we are a state with weak governance where terrorist groups have long run amok. Enough is enough, now put your house in order, the world led by India and the US is saying to Pakistan. We wish the world, and in particular the US, was not so selective in its memories of what has brought Pakistan to such a pass.
If Lashkar-i-Taiba has grown to a position of such strength that it could execute the Mumbai attacks with consummate ease, it has not done so in a vacuum. The Lashkars capabilities grew on the watch of Gen Musharraf, a military strongman supported by American dollars and a White House that believed he was its best bet to take on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas. Even as it became clear that Gen Musharraf was not delivering on American demands and was possibly playing a dangerous double game by covertly supporting some militant groups, the Americans steadfastly stood by their man.
The past year provided a particularly unedifying juxtaposition of a desperate general clinging to power and the resurgence of the two largest political parties, the PPP and the PML-N, both of which unambiguously support closer ties with India. Throughout that tussle the US remained a silent spectator, keen not to upset a fading dictator. So militancy is a problem in the region not only because of Pakistans numerous sins of commission but also because of the sins of the US, whose interests in Afghanistan led it to back a ruler who made neither Pakistan nor the region safer.
Making the region a safe place is no easy task now. The torching of 150 trucks laden with Nato supplies and vehicles outside Peshawar on Sunday confirms that a dangerous game of whack-a-mole is under way hit the militants in one area and they pop up in another. This is possible because the militants are neither a monolith nor neatly divisible into separate groups; they have overlapped and melded in ways that have extended their overall reach. So for Pakistan the priority then must be to push back against all militants, not just the ones that the US or India wants us to stamp out. To do so would require a well-thought-out plan. However, no plan will succeed if foreign countries regard terrorism in Pakistan in a piecemeal way that only narrowly focuses on their own interests.