The United States and its partners should pursue a tough-minded strategy against Pakistan if it does not play a positive role in efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan, a top American think-tank said in a report released Tuesday.
“The discussion with Pakistan must not be delayed, especially following the recent change in elected leadership and given the preponderance of influence of the military leadership in Pakistan’s regional policies, including in Afghanistan,” the Atlantic Council said in a report titled Review of President Tump’s South Asia Strategy: The Way Ahead, One year In.
According to the report, Pakistan has the most important external impact on prospects for success of peace efforts in Afghanistan.
“It is widely recognized that the existence of safe havens in Pakistan makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get the Taliban leadership to seriously negotiate,” the report said.
“While Pakistan has suffered grievously from terrorism, and sacrificed much in combating it internally, efforts to convince it to take needed action against the Taliban and Haqqani network within Pakistan’s borders, and to partner with the United States, have not yet born fruit,” it added.
The report said that a constant review of messaging to Pakistan is needed, as was the elaboration of a multilateral campaign of pressure and incentives – for example, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray listing of Pakistan, and the June US killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan. A redefinition of Pakistani interests is also needed.
“The United States still seeks a healthy relationship with Pakistan, but it and its international partners, who have an important stake in this discussion, must confront Pakistani leaders with a choice about the future of their country that prevents a continuation of the status quo,” the report said.
“In response to pressure from the Trump administration, some Pakistani officials have blustered that Pakistan can rely on China and Russia. That is an illusion inimical to Pakistan’s development and economic future, a framework that falls far short of the active, engaged economic-development and counterterrorism relationship that the West that can offer—or withhold” the report added.
Success in implementing Trump’s strategy will make Pakistan and the region more secure and prosperous, enable the withdrawal of foreign forces, and —with continued counterterrorism cooperation with Kabul and improved cooperation with Pakistan—mark a significant advance in the struggle against Islamist terror. That is an outcome deserving of continued long-term US and international engagement, and the support of those publics, the report said.
The report is authored jointly by Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA Director, and James Cunningham, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, and Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani Ambassador to the US, Bharat Gopalaswamy, director of the Atlantic Council, Indian American expert Ashley Tellis, Indian politician Manish Tewari and Anita McBride, a former US official.
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