Obama’s ‘Ally’ Pakistan Ignores Requests Regarding Taliban
In an effort to try and gain greater control over Afghanistan after a United States withdrawal, the Pakistani military are ignoring repeated requests by the Obama Administration to crack-down on the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Essentially, in an effort to gain regional power and out-maneuever India, the Pakistani military is allowing the Afghan people to continue to suffer at the brutal hands of the Taliban and yet Obama missed no opportunity to state America’s dedication to Pakistan during his speech at the West Point Academy at the beginning of the month.
Allow us to quote President Obama less than two weeks ago:
Moving forward, we are committed to a partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interests, mutual respect, and mutual trust.
Demands by the United States for Pakistan to crack down on the strongest Taliban warrior in Afghanistan, Siraj Haqqani, whose fighters pose the biggest threat to American forces, have been rebuffed by the Pakistani military, according to Pakistani military officials and diplomats.
The Obama administration wants Pakistan to turn on Mr. Haqqani, a longtime asset of Pakistan’s spy agency who uses the tribal area of North Waziristan as his sanctuary. But, the officials said, Pakistan views the entreaties as contrary to its interests in Afghanistan beyond the timetable of President Obama’s surge, which envisions drawing down American forces beginning in mid-2011.
The demands, first made by senior American officials before President Obama’s Afghanistan speech and repeated many times since, were renewed in a written demarche delivered in recent days by the United States Embassy to the head of the Pakistani military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, according to American officials. Gen. David Petraeus followed up on Monday during a visit to Islamabad.
The demands have been accompanied by strong suggestions that if the Pakistanis cannot take care of the problem, including dismantling the Taliban leadership based in Quetta, Pakistan, then the Americans will by resorting to broader and more frequent drone strikes in Pakistan.
But the Pakistanis have greeted the refrain with official public silence and private anger, illustrating the widening gulf between the allies over the Afghan war.
Pakistan Rebuffs U.S. on Taliban Crackdown [New York Times]