The Pak-US Relationship

[muse]

Until Kashmir is resolved, India will continue to be Pakistan's greatest enemy. The fact that the US tends to condescendingly brush aside this central fact destroys their credibility with Pakistanis.

And of course until the Talib/AQ/Islamists/HT etc, subvert the Pakistani state from within and destroy it.

 

[53fd]

As I said in another thread, the US has very limited options but to a) continue with the drone strikes & pressurize them to take action against the Haqqani network, b) threaten Pakistan by cutting off aid to pressurize them to attack the Haqqanis. a) has failed, b) endangers America's influence over Pakistan, which would be a disaster in itself. The only real option for America is continuing with a), but as long as Pakistan holds its ground firm & catches its bluff, America will essentially be, as Einstein put it, resorting to "insanity", as it would be repeating the same behavior, & expecting a different output. But that's the only option that's really left. A direct military confrontation against Pakistan is not an option, as it defeats their aims of bringing stability over the region & maintaining America's influence in Afghanistan. But America's desperation in the region has led to its irrational policies & inconsistent actions, so they definitely need to correct that.

 

[Developereo]

And of course until the Talib/AQ/Islamists/HT etc, subvert the Pakistani state from within and destroy it.

They are both challenges, yes. Surely we can multitask?

 

[muse]

They are both challenges, yes. Surely we can multitask?

No we can't obviously -- Don't gamble with the integrity of the nation state of Pakistan -- one is a adversary, she sits on the borders, and she prepares - the other is the enemy, they use every advantage that Pakistan offers, and deny it to others, as they take up arms against the state and citizen and their families.

 

[lem34]

No we can't obviously -- Don't gamble with the integrity of the nation state of Pakistan -- one is a adversary, she sits on the borders, and she prepares - the other is the enemy, they use every advantage that Pakistan offers, and deny it to others, as they take up arms against the state and citizen and their families.

Wow muse am completly on the same page as you here.

 

[Asian.Century]

Insight Programme on US threats - good points made on Waqt News

 

[indiatester]

Obama warns Pakistan on ties with militant groups

Obama warns Pakistan on ties with militant groups
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday warned Pakistan on its alleged ties with some militant groups, saying Washington will not accept a long-term relationship in which Pakistan is "not mindful" of U.S. interests.

"There is no doubt that there's some connections that the Pakistani military and intelligence services have with certain individuals that we find troubling," Obama told reporters at a news conference at the White House.

Obama said Pakistan is hedging its bets on the future of Afghanistan by "having interactions with some of the unsavory characters" who may regain power after the U.S. troops pullout.

"But there's no doubt that we are not going to feel comfortable with a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if we don't think they're mindful of our interests as well," he said.

Recently, the U.S. has been stepping up its efforts demanding Pakistan to cut ties with militant groups, including the Haqqani network blamed for attacks on U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. Last month, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff Mike Mullen publicly accused the Haqqani network of being a "veritable arm" of the Pakistani intelligence service, which prompted furious response from Pakistan.

The recent row has sent the two countries' ties to a new low, which had already been damaged after U.S. special forces secretly entered Pakistan and killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden without knowledge and permission from Islamabad.

But Obama admitted that the U.S. fight against al-Qaida could not have been "as successful" without cooperation from Pakistan.

Regarding Pakistan's concern on a post-withdrawal Afghanistan in alliance with India, he argued that a peaceful approach toward India "would be in everybody's interests and would help Pakistan actually develop."

Obama also talked about the "reorientation" of American aid to Pakistan, saying the U.S. is willing to help the Pakistani people to strengthen their society and government.

The U.S. has threatened to cut military aid to Pakistan unless results on fighting militants being seen, while at the same time shifting more focus to the civilian aid.

Posting here as did not find any thread discussing this latest statement.

 

[DV RULES]

Pakistan asks US to do more



Wednesday, October 26, 2011

ISLAMABAD: Encouraged by the gradual easing of tensions between the two countries, Islamabad has asked Washington to help Pakistan’s ailing economy by ensuring approval of the spent plan for 2011 for disbursing assistance under the Kerry Lugar Law (KLL) from Congress, even though the fiscal year in the USA has already commenced, it is learnt.

Background interviews with senior members of the economic team also revealed that Islamabad’s policy planners want Washington to re-prioritise its initiatives. A senior member of the government’s economic team said Washington would have to move towards taking practical steps such as getting approval on the spent plan 2011 for KLL money as its fate was hanging in the balance for the last few months.

“The US Congress has notified the spent plan 2011 but it has not yet been approved,” he said, adding that the Obama administration would have to throw its weight behind this to make it happen. He opined that if the US really wanted to help out Pakistan, it should spend $7.5 billion in a five-year period on the energy sector by allowing consolidation of development projects.

Another important member of the economic team said instead of spending money on smaller and soft projects, the US should spend money for the construction of hydel power projects and other energy sector initiatives.
It was also pointed out that since 1947, Washington had disbursed $49 billion in the form of economic and military assistance according as per current dollar rate whereas in historical terms and calculated at a fixed rate, this amount came to a mere $19 billion.

“In the current rate of assistance of $49 billion, it does not include the reimbursed amount of around $9 billion in the shape of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) after Pakistan’s decision to become an ally of USA in its war against terrorism,” said the official and explained that it would be unfair to consider the CSF amount as assistance as this was the money already spent by Pakistan for launching military offensives in the tribal areas and the US had only reimbursed the same after a thorough process of reconciling the incurred expenses.


Pakistan asks US to do more

 

[jassimtaqui]

Mullen sees a ‘syndication’ of extremist groups in FATA
US army chief says no firm evidence of Qaeda fighters shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan
* Says timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq can jeopardise political progress

WASHINGTON/IRAQ: There has been a “joining and a syndication of various extremist and terrorist groups” in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which pose an internal threat to Pakistan and cause an increased flow of fighters across the border into Afghanistan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman (JCSC) Admiral Mike Mullen said on Sunday.

In an interview on Fox Television, Mullen, who recently visited Pakistan and Afghanistan, said there is “no firm evidence that Al Qaeda is shifting its fighters from Iraq to Afghanistan.” He said that during his visit to the region, the whole issue of FATA and safe havens for foreign fighters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban had come up. He claimed that the insurgents are now “freely, much more freely able to come across the border. They are a big challenge for all of us and will have an adverse effect on our ability to move forward in Afghanistan.” He said the concern is that a safe haven exists in Pakistan where “these fighters, these additional foreign fighters,” have shown up.

Timetable: A fixed timetable for withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq can jeopardise political and economic progress, the Associated Press quoted Mullen as saying on Sunday.

He said that the agreement between President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to set a “general time horizon” for bringing more troops home from the war was a sign of “healthy negotiations for a burgeoning democracy”.

“I think the strategic goals of having time horizons are ones that we all seek because we would like to see US forces draw down and eventually come home,” Admiral Mullen said, adding, “This right now doesn’t speak to either time lines or timetables based on my understanding of where we are.”

The best way to determine troops’ levels, the JCSC said, was to assess the conditions on the ground and to consult with American commanders. “Based on my time in and out of Iraq in recent months, I think the conditions-based assessments are the way to go and they’re very solid. We’re making progress and we can move forward accordingly based on those conditions,” he said.

The Iraqi prime minister was quoted by a German magazine over the weekend as saying that US troops should leave “as soon as possible”. He called Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s suggestion of 16 months “the right timeframe for a withdrawal”. Mullen, asked about the possibility of withdrawing all combat troops within two years, said, “I think the consequences could be very dangerous.”

“It is hard to say exactly what would happen. I’d worry about any kind of rapid movement that would create instability. We are engaged very much right now with the Iraqi people,” Mullen said. khalid kassan/ap

Home | National

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

In episode III of the War of Roses between CIA and ISI, Al-Bab discusses here the role of the Pentagon Rogues in the ongoing war. To avoid the customary accusation of "Conspiracy Theory," we confine ourselves to the sensational revelation of Catherine Austin Fitts, the US Assistant Secretary of Housing and the Federal Housing Commission at the US Department of Housing and Development(HUD) during the Presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush.

 

[Rig Vedic]

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Pakistan's spy agency seeks some credit for bin Laden's death - The Washington Post


New York Times: United States Talks Fail as Pakistanis Seek Apology


Pakistan to US: It's drones or transit - RT

 

[karan.1970]

Pakistan's spy agency seeks some credit for bin Laden's death - The Washington Post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s premier spy service, stung by lingering suspicions that it was complicit in sheltering Osama bin Laden, said Friday that it deserves credit for helping U.S. intelligence officials locate the hideout where the al-Qaeda chief was killed by American commandos nearly a year ago.

“The lead and the information actually came from us,” asenior official with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) said in an interview, reviving a push for recognition ahead of the anniversary of the stealth raid in a town about 70 miles by road north of the capital, Islamabad. {This is sounding lame }

Washington has cast serious doubt on the ISI claim — and frequently portrays the agency as a sponsor of Islamist extremists — but a renewed official embrace of the operation that eliminated bin Laden is revealing in itself.

Many Pakistani politicians have described the May 2 raid as an assault on Pakistan’s sovereignty and an example of U.S. arrogance. A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA in the hunt for bin Laden remains in custody on charges of treason, and his associates are barred from working.

After U.S. helicopters swooped in to breach bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan’s army said it knew nothing about his six-year presence in the garrison town, site of Pakistan’s most prestigious military academy.

The ISI continues to maintain that stance. But recent claims by one of bin Laden’s widows that the fugitive al-Qaeda leader spent some nine years in Pakistan, living in several homes and fathering four children, have renewed questions about whether somebody in the powerful spy service knew of his whereabouts.

On Friday evening, over iced tea at a hotel cafe, two ISI officials offered a narrative that they say puts Pakistan in a better light. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

One noted that the ISI’s new head, Lt. Gen. Zaheer ul-Islam, is taking a “proactive” approach to public relations to improve the international image of the much-maligned intelligence service.

“Any hit on al-Qaeda anywhere in the world has happened with our help,” the official said.

The other official, who said he had been intimately involved in the hunt for senior al-Qaeda operatives, including bin Laden, said the ISI provided the CIA with a cellphone number that eventually led to an al-Qaeda courier using the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

The story about the phone number isn’t new, but now the ISI has fleshed out one aspect of it: The officials said that in November 2010 they turned over the number to the CIA, along with information that it was last detected in Abbottabad.

The ISI said that it did not know then that the number was Kuwaiti’s, but that CIA analysts did and yet never relayed that information back to the Pakistanis.

“They knew who the number belonged to,” the official said, adding that he had worked closely with the CIA and turned over thousands of suspect numbers. “But after that, their cooperation with us ended.”

“It is the story of an extreme trust deficit and betrayal,” the other ISI official said.

But a U.S. official disputed the ISI version Friday.

“The fact is our knowledge of the number didn’t come from them telling us about it,” said the official, who spoke anonymously to discuss sensitive information.

In the immediate aftermath of bin Laden’s killing, Pakistan’s leaders applauded his death and said their country had helped in the operation.

“We in Pakistan take some satisfaction that our early assistance in identifying an al-Qaeda courier ultimately led to this day,” President Asif Ali Zardari wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post the day after the raid.

On May 5, the Pakistani military said in a statement on the raid, “While the CIA developed intelligence based on initial information provided by ISI, it did not share further development of intelligence on the case with ISI, contrary to the existing practice between the two services.”

In announcing bin Laden’s death, President Obama himself said, “It’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding.”

But those words were eventually drowned out by mounting assertions from U.S. lawmakers, intelligence officials and pundits that Pakistan must have been aware of bin Laden’s refuge, even though no conclusive evidence of that has emerged publicly. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, popular resentment of the United States — and growing impatience with the fight against terrorism — caused the country’s leaders to distance themselves from those early claims of assisting with the hunt for bin Laden.

The ISI men said Washington officials are willing to acknowledge their contributions behind closed doors, but never in public. This seemed especially frustrating to the ISI official who said he turned over the vital mobile number to the CIA.

“On a daily basis, we shared data with our friends,” he said. “We cooperated on all the targets. There was no holding back. . . . Why would I hold anything back on Osama bin Laden?”