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Debate in Pak Army over OBL raid
Published: May 20, 2011
WASHINGTON - A raucous and broad internal debate is taking place within the Pakistan Army following the killing of Osama bin Laden this month in Abbottabad, as military leaders seek to overcome extraordinary public criticism as well as the seething anger in barracks across the country The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing unnamed Pakistani officers.
Some of the outrage among the ranks stems from the fact that the Pakistani military failed to locate bin Laden or detect the stealth US raid on bin Ladens compound, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Islamabad, according to officers and military analysts. But most of it is directed toward the United States, the dispatch said, a country, that, it underscores, has given billions of dollars to help sustain Pakistans counter-terrorism efforts but is now voicing rising concern that the countrys military is not dedicated to that fight.
The Post said Pakistani officers talk about the internal debate as one that is unlikely to undermine the institution but that bodes poorly for US hopes of an expanded Pakistani effort against militants.
To head off the discontent, the report pointed out Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani, made town-hall-style appearances last week at five garrisons across the country, Where he faced barbed questions from officers about the raid. After a 45-minute address to the 5th Corps in Karachi, Kayani took queries for three hours, the newspaper said from those who attended. Attendees said questioners focused on the perceived affront in Abbottabad and why Pakistan, in the words of one officer, did not retaliate, it said.
Its never good for a military of that size to have a feeling of resentment, retired Lt-Gen Talat Masood, a security analyst, was quoted as saying. The discovery of bin Laden, he added, has stung them as much as it has stung the whole world.
Even so, no officers interviewed said the bin Laden killing had convinced them that Pakistan needs to work harder to find terrorists or shift the focus of its defence strategy from archenemy India, according to the dispatch. Instead, some expressed hope that their superiors would stand up to the United States, by either cutting ties or extracting guarantees of an end to unilateral US actions.
Pakistan should immediately suspend cooperation with the US, said one officer in Pakistans north, who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly, the paper said. In the lower ranks, anti-Americanism is at its highest.
The United States, officers said, too rarely acknowledges that 140,000 Pakistani troops are deployed in the militant-riddled northwest, tasked with fighting fellow Muslims and compatriots. Nearly 3,000 Pakistani soldiers have been killed battling insurgents since 2001, according to the army. Recent accusations from Washington about Pakistani complicity with insurgents have prompted fresh reflections about that mission, they said.
They want us to take out terrorists, and thats what we are doing, one lieutenant colonel was quoted as saying. Look whats happening in our cities bombings everywhere. Thats the reaction for what we are doing.
The bin Laden incident has also shaken Pakistans senior ranks, where debate about an army offensive against the militant Haqqani network which the United States has repeatedly requested has raged for some time. Though the army still resists taking it on, the bin Laden killing has convinced some top generals that there needs to be change all around, the paper said, citing a person familiar with their thinking.
Published: May 20, 2011
WASHINGTON - A raucous and broad internal debate is taking place within the Pakistan Army following the killing of Osama bin Laden this month in Abbottabad, as military leaders seek to overcome extraordinary public criticism as well as the seething anger in barracks across the country The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing unnamed Pakistani officers.
Some of the outrage among the ranks stems from the fact that the Pakistani military failed to locate bin Laden or detect the stealth US raid on bin Ladens compound, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Islamabad, according to officers and military analysts. But most of it is directed toward the United States, the dispatch said, a country, that, it underscores, has given billions of dollars to help sustain Pakistans counter-terrorism efforts but is now voicing rising concern that the countrys military is not dedicated to that fight.
The Post said Pakistani officers talk about the internal debate as one that is unlikely to undermine the institution but that bodes poorly for US hopes of an expanded Pakistani effort against militants.
To head off the discontent, the report pointed out Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani, made town-hall-style appearances last week at five garrisons across the country, Where he faced barbed questions from officers about the raid. After a 45-minute address to the 5th Corps in Karachi, Kayani took queries for three hours, the newspaper said from those who attended. Attendees said questioners focused on the perceived affront in Abbottabad and why Pakistan, in the words of one officer, did not retaliate, it said.
Its never good for a military of that size to have a feeling of resentment, retired Lt-Gen Talat Masood, a security analyst, was quoted as saying. The discovery of bin Laden, he added, has stung them as much as it has stung the whole world.
Even so, no officers interviewed said the bin Laden killing had convinced them that Pakistan needs to work harder to find terrorists or shift the focus of its defence strategy from archenemy India, according to the dispatch. Instead, some expressed hope that their superiors would stand up to the United States, by either cutting ties or extracting guarantees of an end to unilateral US actions.
Pakistan should immediately suspend cooperation with the US, said one officer in Pakistans north, who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly, the paper said. In the lower ranks, anti-Americanism is at its highest.
The United States, officers said, too rarely acknowledges that 140,000 Pakistani troops are deployed in the militant-riddled northwest, tasked with fighting fellow Muslims and compatriots. Nearly 3,000 Pakistani soldiers have been killed battling insurgents since 2001, according to the army. Recent accusations from Washington about Pakistani complicity with insurgents have prompted fresh reflections about that mission, they said.
They want us to take out terrorists, and thats what we are doing, one lieutenant colonel was quoted as saying. Look whats happening in our cities bombings everywhere. Thats the reaction for what we are doing.
The bin Laden incident has also shaken Pakistans senior ranks, where debate about an army offensive against the militant Haqqani network which the United States has repeatedly requested has raged for some time. Though the army still resists taking it on, the bin Laden killing has convinced some top generals that there needs to be change all around, the paper said, citing a person familiar with their thinking.
