U.S.-Pakistan relations better than they look

Given the high-decibel volume of the row over Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in Lahore in January, it would be tempting to assume that overall relations between Pakistan and the United States are the worst they have been in years.

At a strategic level, however, there’s actually rather greater convergence of views than there has been for a very long time.

In a speech last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a step closer towards meeting Pakistan’s own call for a political settlement in Afghanistan through negotiations with Taliban insurgents which would force al Qaeda to leave the region. It was time, she said, “to get serious about a responsible reconciliation process, led by Afghans and supported by intense regional diplomacy and strong U.S.-backing.”

“Now, I know that reconciling with an adversary that can be as brutal as the Taliban sounds distasteful, even unimaginable. And diplomacy would be easy if we only had to talk to our friends. But that is not how one makes peace,” she said.

Her speech coincided with a report that the United States had begun secret face-to-face talks with representatives of the Taliban for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Clinton also acknowledged Pakistan’s concerns about Indian influence in Afghanistan. “We look to them – and all of Afghanistan’s neighbours – to respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty, which means agreeing not to play out their rivalries within its borders, and to support reconciliation and efforts to ensure that al-Qaida and the syndicate of terrorism is denied safe haven everywhere. Afghanistan, in turn, must not allow its territory to be used against others.” Her choice of language was unusual in that it equated both India and Pakistan – traditionally Islamabad has been condemned for unhelpful interference in Afghanistan, while New Delhi has insisted it is interested only in helping Afghan development.

Western officials also say they believe Pakistan, which once looked to use Afghanistan for “strategic depth” against India, has scaled back its ambitions into seeing stability there as an end itself. Pakistani officials have been saying for a while they would settle for a “stable” rather than “friendly” Afghanistan.

At a senior level, Pakistan and the United States have also built good working relations among their top officials – U.S. commanders met Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in Oman last week in the latest of a series of meetings to build understanding between the two militaries.

I’m told that neither country wants the relationship to be completely derailed by the row over Davis, who Washington insists has diplomatic immunity from prosecution in Pakistan, an assertion contested by Islamabad.

That does not mean the row is not serious. For the United States, any refusal to recognise what it sees as diplomatic immunity touches a raw nerve, evoking bad memories of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, which continues to sour relations with Tehran to this day. For Pakistan, the idea that an American CIA contractor might kill two Pakistanis with impunity (Davis says it was in self-defence) adds to its sense of being a bullied and subservient ally, rather than a respected partner.

In Pakistan, the media has whipped up anti-Americanism to fever pitch over the Davis case. The military establishment, and in particular the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, has been accused in the past of using the media to bolster its position in arguments with the United States. And the ISI has been unusually public this time around in expressing its frustration with what has always been a tetchy relationship with the CIA.

In the United States, the row has intensifies doubts about Pakistan as a strategic partner – a relationship which many already find hard to understand.

But it does mean that both are keen to find a solution. One idea doing the rounds would be for Pakistan to release Davis in return for a commitment that he be tried in the United States. Various other ideas are also being floated in the media, including payment of compensation to the families of the Pakistanis killed. “The idea is to find a solution whereby the Davis incident does not hijack the U.S.-Pakistan relationship,” The Cable quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying.

CIA’s multinational interests in Pak

The arrests of Raymond Allen Davis (RAD), an established CIA operative and US national Mark De Haven from Peshawar have blown the lid off CIA’s clandestine operations in Pakistan. What is shocking is the extent of the massive covert maneuvers, which have been going on for years since the painstakingly laid infrastructure could not have been established in a few weeks’ time. As Pakistan’s security agencies dig deeper, they uncover more dark secrets. It has now become apparent that CIA was working for besides itself, the interests of a number of other foreign powers having hegemonic concerns in Pakistan; some of them openly hostile to Pakistan. If this is not abuse of hospitality then what else is? There is honour even amongst thieves. In the dark and dank world of espionage, enshrouded in secrecy and comprises, there are certain norms and mores, which are upheld. However, it appears that the CIA is totally devoid of any ethical considerations. It is an accepted moral principle of espionage that the host country has the exclusive right of operating at home and external agencies have to coordinate their efforts in consonance with the home government. In this case, the CIA has crossed all limits especially when Pakistan and USA are considered to be allies and ISI and CIA have had the opportunity to work in tandem, first to route the Soviets from Afghanistan and post 9/11 to defeat the Al-Qaeda. However, at some stage CIA’s plans included working to the detriment of Pakistan’s interests too.

Under the garb of diplomats, the US government managed to place intelligence, security and guerrilla warfare experts in its embassies and consulates in Pakistan. These estimated over 3000 operatives have been conducting an internecine warfare within Pakistan. They have managed to infiltrate the Taliban and Al-Qaeda network and create their own Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan) force, which has been recruited, trained and equipped by these CIA operatives to target Pakistan Army personnel, Armed Forces installations, markets, hospitals, schools and public places to destabilize Pakistan. The Soviet Intelligence Agency SVR has disclosed that RAD and his network have provided Al-Qaeda operatives with chemical, nuclear and biological weapons so that installations in the US may be targeted and Pakistan is blamed and pressed to do more of the US’ dirty work like conducting operations in North Waziristan.

CIA operatives in Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan) have also been unleashed to conduct political assassinations. Reportedly, PPP stalwart Benazir Bhutto was enabled to return to Pakistan by the US so that she could protect American interests in the region. The US even expected her to rollback Pakistan’s nuclear program. However, on her return to Pakistan, Benazir had a reality check and refused to play ball. Any bonafide Pakistani with roots amongst the masses would have had difficulty in toeing the US agenda and Benazir was a diehard Pakistani. Her reluctance resulted in her elimination and it is no coincidence that alleged CIA operative Baitullah Mehsud took responsibility for the assassination. It is no coincidence that within hours of Benazir’s assassination, Sindh not only came to a standstill but organized looting of banks, ATMs and Petrol Pumps was carried out. It appeared as if a blueprint of the entire operation of pillaging, looting and rioting had been prepared in advance. The perpetrators only had to cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war. Has anyone wondered why no high value target has ever been eliminated during the drone attacks? RAD’s arrest resulted in the drone attacks being suspended for over four weeks. It was only when Pakistani media took up the question if RAD was directing the reviled drone attacks, which have resulted in the demise of hundreds of women, children and old men as collateral damage, that the drone attacks were ultimately resumed perhaps under a new spy master.

Let us examine the case of the fresh arrest of an American national, Aaron Mark De Haven. The alleged CIA operative had an expired visit visa; he is married to a local woman at Peshawar and claims to have converted to Islam. The whole episode is highly dubious and smacks of CIA operations. Coming back to RAD’s role as a CIA operative; his business cards were bogus, the address provided in the US was fictitious and there was little or no clue regarding his real identity. It was his wife, who finally let the cat out of the bag about his CIA connections. In fact it came about that the US media was under instructions to keep RAD’s true identity and CIA links under wraps. The cases of RAD and De Haven are only the tip of the iceberg. The whole gamut of the CIA operations in Pakistan is still enshrouded in mystery and secrecy. The aspect of CIA giving its sister spy agency RAW a helping hand has also been uncovered. RAW has been facing disappointments in its Pakistan operations, however ever since it teamed up with the CIA and decided to ride piggyback, it has been having some success. The deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore was not only a triumphant operation, which besides driving away foreign sports teams from visiting Pakistan, also hammered the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan hosting the Cricket World Cup, currently in progress in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Pakistan has lost tremendous revenue while the cricket enthusiasts in Pakistan have been deprived of watching high class live cricket and the downstream industry has also suffered. CIA operations in Pakistan are already illegal but cozying up to Pakistan’s enemies is akin to following the Chanakyan principle of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. Indian spy agency RAW has had a watershed by its marriage of convenience to CIA and provided it an opportunity to settle old scores with archenemy Pakistan but the cat is now out of the bag. Pakistan needs to take the bull by the horns and confront CIA to stop its shenanigans in Pakistan and end its complicity with Pakistan’s enemies.

Punjabi Taliban

IT is difficult to say who is guilty of hurting the Punjabi sensibility and compromising Punjab`s security more. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has warned Interior Minister Rehman Malik against using the term `Punjabi Taliban`. The federal minister initially gave the impression that he was ready to take on Mr Sharif over the issue, going so far as to declare he was not a subordinate of the chief minister. But then he capitulated in the manner his party, the PPP, seems to have perfected. Mr Malik has promised Mr Sharif an explanation; however, others may not share the interior minister`s compulsion and would be more tempted to raise the critical question of what is so irritating about the term `Punjabi Taliban` that has made the chief minister livid. His angry response – time and again – to the `Punjabi` tagging of terrorists betrays a lack of understanding that does not quite suit the head of a provincial government. There is no insinuation that the Taliban enjoy the active support of the entire population of a province. It is only Mr Sharif`s interpretation that appears to give that sinister, all-encompassing meaning to a term a set of terrorists – many of whom have received training in Waziristan – have boasted of in recent times.

Rather than taking it as an attack meant to be countered forcefully, the mention of the Punjabi Taliban should lead to a bit of searching of the soul and territory at Mr Sharif`s command. There have been far too many allegations for him to continue to ignore the issue. The pamphlet left at the site of Minister Shahbaz Bhatti`s murder in Islamabad recently had the Taliban from Punjab claiming responsibility for the dastardly act.

If this is not the right time and the right sign for Punjab to act, there never will be. A lack of action on the part of the provincial government will only add to the impression that it, or some of its members, had a soft corner for terrorists on a killing spree. Their victims include people from all ethnic groups and a number of politicians and political activists belonging mainly to the PPP and the Awami National Party. During his attacks on Mr Malik, the chief minister has once again, and rightly so, pointed out that it was irrelevant as to which ethnic group a terrorist belonged to. He would be doing Punjab, and coincidentally Pakistan, a great service if he could move beyond simply cleaning up the Pathan areas in Lahore in his attempt to pre-empt terror strikes. He must look deeper and must not discriminate.