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US lawmakers tell Obama, dump Pakistan
and go with India
Apr 6, 2011, 10.16pm IST TNN [ Chidanand
Rajghatta ]
WASHINGTON: Expressing
apprehension that the United
States is being "taken for
suckers" and "looked at as
patsies" by Pakistan, two
American lawmakers on
Tuesday called for
strengthening ties with India
even as a White House report
gave a harshly critical
assessment of Islamabad s
effort to defeat extremism.
While administration officials
defended Washington s
support for Pakistan using
the same logic as London is
doing on UK Prime Minister David Camerons
ongoing visit to Islamabad ("a difficult
partnership with Pakistan is far better than
having a hostile Pakistan," one U.S official
testified), lawmakers wanted a major
reappraisal of U.S outlook for the region.
They expressed doubts if any good would
come out of the current U.S policy of
coddling Islamabad in the face of Pakistani
duplicity in combating extremism. Instead,
they pushed for even closer ties with India.
"After 10 years of hearing the same sales
pitch I tend to doubt it. I doubt that our
money is buying anything that's deep or
durable," New York Congressman Gary
Ackerman said at a hearing. "I doubt the
leaders in the Afghan government and the
Pakistani government are going to do
anything except pursue their own narrow,
venal self interests. I doubt the ISI will ever
stop working with us during the day and
going to see their not-so-secret friends in
the Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e Mohammed
and other terrorist groups at night."
His California colleague Dana Rohrabacher
went even further back to frame the
situation in a historical context. "I've been
hearing that for 50 years. And I will tell you,
a realistic relationship, rather than basing
the relationship on wishful thinking, is what
will bring about peace in that part of the
world. What we've had is wishful thinking
and what I call irrational optimism," he said
at a hearing called to assess U.S foreign
policy priorities in South Asia.
The critical comments came just hours after
a White House report to Congress concluded
that after years of work with the Pakistani
military "there remains no clear path toward
defeating the insurgency" that thrives in
the country, remarks that analysts said
reflected growing frustration in the
administration over Pakistan s commitment
to fight extremism.
Still, administration officials defended
Washington s outreach to Pakistan, insisting
that the country is vital to US national
security interests and suggesting the U.S
had no other options.
But lawmakers were not convinced. Both
Rohrabacher and Ackerman, who described
U.S ties with New Delhi as the "one shining
light" and "brightest light" respectively of
the administration s foreign policy pressed
for greater emphasis on India.
"I would hope that we have the intelligence
to work and to make sure that India is our
best friend in that part of the world,"
Rochrabacher said, offering his contrast
between the two countries. "The fact is that
Pakistan is committed to Islam...India is
dedicated to prosperity for their people."
Amid what lawmakers saw as Washingtons
compulsive obsession with Pakistan,
Ackerman in fact criticized the
administration for not using U.S diplomatic
leadership and agenda-setting capability to
focus global attention to the threat to India
from Pakistan-based terrorists, such as
Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"If there is, God forbid, another Mumbai-like
strike, we will not be able to say that we did
our utmost to prevent it because in truth,
we haven't," he warned. "The ambitions of
these terrorists have only grown and a full-
fledged global campaign to crush these
thugs still awaits at our peril."
While critical of Pakistan, the White House
report offered no new prescription of how
to handle Islamabad, aside from reflecting
on the well-known fact that India looms
large in the Pakistani military s thinking.
"As India continues to dominate their
strategic threat perception, large elements
of Pakistan's military remain committed to
maintaining a ratio of Pakistani to Indian
forces along the eastern border," the
Presidential report to the Congress on
Afghanistan and Pakistan said, adding, "This
deprives the Pakistani COIN (counter-
insurgency) fight of sufficient forces to
achieve its 'clear' objectives and support
the 'hold' efforts."
Some analysts have suggested India should
take steps to reassure Pakistan about its
security, but the broad reading in
Washington is that nothing can placate a
security establishment that uses a trumped-
up or exaggerated Indian threat to extend
its stranglehold on the Pakistani people and
the country s resources. President Obama
downwards, U.S officials have said the
Pakistani military s obsession is misplaced.
Frustrated lawmakers on Tuesday
suggested in effect that the administration
simply strengthen ties with India to counter
Pakistan's policy.
and go with India
Apr 6, 2011, 10.16pm IST TNN [ Chidanand
Rajghatta ]
WASHINGTON: Expressing
apprehension that the United
States is being "taken for
suckers" and "looked at as
patsies" by Pakistan, two
American lawmakers on
Tuesday called for
strengthening ties with India
even as a White House report
gave a harshly critical
assessment of Islamabad s
effort to defeat extremism.
While administration officials
defended Washington s
support for Pakistan using
the same logic as London is
doing on UK Prime Minister David Camerons
ongoing visit to Islamabad ("a difficult
partnership with Pakistan is far better than
having a hostile Pakistan," one U.S official
testified), lawmakers wanted a major
reappraisal of U.S outlook for the region.
They expressed doubts if any good would
come out of the current U.S policy of
coddling Islamabad in the face of Pakistani
duplicity in combating extremism. Instead,
they pushed for even closer ties with India.
"After 10 years of hearing the same sales
pitch I tend to doubt it. I doubt that our
money is buying anything that's deep or
durable," New York Congressman Gary
Ackerman said at a hearing. "I doubt the
leaders in the Afghan government and the
Pakistani government are going to do
anything except pursue their own narrow,
venal self interests. I doubt the ISI will ever
stop working with us during the day and
going to see their not-so-secret friends in
the Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e Mohammed
and other terrorist groups at night."
His California colleague Dana Rohrabacher
went even further back to frame the
situation in a historical context. "I've been
hearing that for 50 years. And I will tell you,
a realistic relationship, rather than basing
the relationship on wishful thinking, is what
will bring about peace in that part of the
world. What we've had is wishful thinking
and what I call irrational optimism," he said
at a hearing called to assess U.S foreign
policy priorities in South Asia.
The critical comments came just hours after
a White House report to Congress concluded
that after years of work with the Pakistani
military "there remains no clear path toward
defeating the insurgency" that thrives in
the country, remarks that analysts said
reflected growing frustration in the
administration over Pakistan s commitment
to fight extremism.
Still, administration officials defended
Washington s outreach to Pakistan, insisting
that the country is vital to US national
security interests and suggesting the U.S
had no other options.
But lawmakers were not convinced. Both
Rohrabacher and Ackerman, who described
U.S ties with New Delhi as the "one shining
light" and "brightest light" respectively of
the administration s foreign policy pressed
for greater emphasis on India.
"I would hope that we have the intelligence
to work and to make sure that India is our
best friend in that part of the world,"
Rochrabacher said, offering his contrast
between the two countries. "The fact is that
Pakistan is committed to Islam...India is
dedicated to prosperity for their people."
Amid what lawmakers saw as Washingtons
compulsive obsession with Pakistan,
Ackerman in fact criticized the
administration for not using U.S diplomatic
leadership and agenda-setting capability to
focus global attention to the threat to India
from Pakistan-based terrorists, such as
Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"If there is, God forbid, another Mumbai-like
strike, we will not be able to say that we did
our utmost to prevent it because in truth,
we haven't," he warned. "The ambitions of
these terrorists have only grown and a full-
fledged global campaign to crush these
thugs still awaits at our peril."
While critical of Pakistan, the White House
report offered no new prescription of how
to handle Islamabad, aside from reflecting
on the well-known fact that India looms
large in the Pakistani military s thinking.
"As India continues to dominate their
strategic threat perception, large elements
of Pakistan's military remain committed to
maintaining a ratio of Pakistani to Indian
forces along the eastern border," the
Presidential report to the Congress on
Afghanistan and Pakistan said, adding, "This
deprives the Pakistani COIN (counter-
insurgency) fight of sufficient forces to
achieve its 'clear' objectives and support
the 'hold' efforts."
Some analysts have suggested India should
take steps to reassure Pakistan about its
security, but the broad reading in
Washington is that nothing can placate a
security establishment that uses a trumped-
up or exaggerated Indian threat to extend
its stranglehold on the Pakistani people and
the country s resources. President Obama
downwards, U.S officials have said the
Pakistani military s obsession is misplaced.
Frustrated lawmakers on Tuesday
suggested in effect that the administration
simply strengthen ties with India to counter
Pakistan's policy.
