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| India-Pakistan | ||
| Rift widens | ||
| 2012-06-02 | ||
| For many in the US, Pakistan's sovereignty claims ring hollow "Tonight I can tell you that we are fulfilling our commitments and we are meeting our goals," US President Barack Obama said in a speech after the Chicago conference on Afghanistan. The US president said 33,000 troops would leave Afghanistan by 2012, and the first batch of 5,000 troops would leave next month. "My impression is that leaders at the summit haven't been overrun by the actual developments in Afghanistan," Carsten Michels, a German analyst who closely follows the Pakistani tribal areas. "Now they are struggling to make it look like everything is going by the plan. Everyone who gets a closer look might want to disagree on that. But that is politics. NATO has to look united and strong." While NATO had met primarily to discuss Afghanistan, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was also invited to Chicago. "We expected Pakistan to at least consider the fact that over 4,000 of our soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, and stopping NATO supplies has helped strengthened the Taliban," said a senior NATO source. "We expected President Zardari to have restored the supplies, but he didn't." Pakistan has declined to resume NATO supplies because it demands an apology from the US over the Salala incident, in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed last November. The US president and the NATO secretary general refused to meet President Zardari one-to-one "to show their anger", the NATO source said. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is in Washington to explain Pakistan's point of view, said the conference "went as expected".
He admitted ties between Pakistan and the US were passing through a difficult phase, but "we have a common goal and a common enemy, and we must find common grounds to enhance cooperation". "There are serious complexities between the two nations, and the biggest problem is how Pakistan is seen as destabilizing Afghanistan and the overall ISAF/NATO mission in Afghanistan," US security analyst Brigadier (retd) Carl Adams said. "We are very upset about the fact that the Haqqanis and certain other groups who kill our boys and destroy Afghanistan find shelter in Pakistan." US withdrawal from Afghanistan: President Karzai has announced that another group of provinces will be given in Afghan control next month. He said the Afghan National Security Forces will take over the security of the entire country by mid-2013. The US and NATO will leave Afghanistan by 2014, and a post-2014 operation plan has already been made. Britain alone has pledged $100 million a year to fund the Afghan military, and billions of dollars have been promised by countries like Australia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Estonia and the Netherlands.
"The countries in the region, particularly Pakistan, have important roles in ensuring enduring peace, stability and security in Afghanistan and in facilitating the completion of the transition process," the declaration at the end of the conference said. "We stand ready to continue dialogue and practical cooperation with relevant regional actors in this regard. We welcome the progress on transit arrangements with our Central Asian partners and Russia. NATO continues to work with Pakistan to reopen the ground lines of communication as soon as possible." NATO Supplies and Pakistan: In Karachi, that supplies 80% of NATO provisions to Afghanistan, the mood had been ecstatic. Transporters, mostly Pashtun, have been waiting for the resumption of the supplies. "Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have been unemployed because of the suspension of NATO supplies," says Ahmed Mehsud, a contractor in Karachi. "We demand an immediate resumption of the supplies." But the government has other concerns that it believes are more important. "Our government wants complete respect of Pakistan's sovereignty," Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told reporters in Chicago. She appeared upbeat about the outcome of the conference, and said Pakistan had the highest stakes among the 60 countries that participated in the conference. "The spillover effect of instability in Afghanistan is instantaneous in Pakistan, and if there is stability in Afghanistan, the effect of that in Pakistan too should be instantaneous. I will completely disagree with anyone at all who says that Pakistan should not participate in such a forum." But American security analyst Lawrence Alan Levine says the US believes Pakistan's sovereignty claims "in the successful mission to rid the world of the mass murderer Bin Laden, ring hollow". "Many understand that terrorists based in Pakistan commit atrocities in Afghanistan and India - an insult to their sovereignty," he said. "As we struggle with economic challenges, many wonder why we send aid to Pakistan when they do not tax their own wealthiest citizens. Americans wonder why a man who arguably helped rid the world of a terrorist is treated as a criminal in Pakistan." | ||
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Again, NOT GOOD NEWS FOR IRAN AS PER AVOIDING POSSIBLE ANTI-NUCPROG WAR VEE THE US. As per POLITICAL-GEOPOL DIALECTICISM, the Mullahs in Tehran may publicly support BFF Islamabad, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit iff they were covertly pressuring andor funding Pak Politicos, Street Protestors to demand that the NATO supply routes be open??? E.G. TOPIX > IRANIAN INFLUENCE IN SOUTH AZERBAIJAN RISING DUE TO POOR ECONOMY. Many poor Muslim Azeris or other travel to-n-fro the Iran-Azeri border for everything, esepc as per Iran. Azerbaijan is part of the vital post-Pak NDN for the US-NATO into Afghanistan, while [neo-Persianist]IRAN = RIVAL TURKEY = SEES HEGEMONIC "GREATER IRAN" = "IRANIAN UNION" IN THE C.A.R. + CAUCASUS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-06-02 22:27 |