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Obama’s loud-mouthing
posted Friday, 3 August 2007
MR Barack Obama, a Democratic presidential hopeful, has joined the chorus of voices demanding or threatening American military action in Pakistan’s tribal region. Since Mr Obama could perhaps be in the White House one day, what he is saying today could well become America’s official policy tomorrow. In a speech made at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars Mr Obama spoke of “those mountains” in Pakistan — basically because one doubts if the Senator from Illinois knows whether Waziristan is in Azad Kashmir or in eastern Sindh close to Tibet. Pakistan, he warned, would lose millions of dollars in aid when he would be the president, and order his troops into the area where, according to him, 3,000 terrorists are holed up. Mercifully, sanity seems to prevail in official quarters, and the very day that Mr Obama gave vent to his wisdom, the American ambassador in Islamabad denied that Washington had any such plans. During her visit to Lahore’s historic Badshahi mosque, Ms Anne Patterson said America would continue to support Pakistan in its war on terror and that the US aid to Islamabad would remain uninterrupted.
However, Mr Obama — whom his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called “naïve” — can draw some solace from the fact that he is not the only one to have indulged in this sort of irresponsible talk; there are others in his country, including some legislators, who have spoken in a similar vein. There is no doubt that Pakistan’s war on terror has run into serious trouble. Last September’s deal with the militants has not worked, and Al Qaeda and Taliban have been able to regroup and strike where they want. Their reaction to the Lal Masjid episode shows that their ability to kill and destroy as far away from Fata as Islamabad remains intact; many would-be suicide-bombers are still lurking around, and one does not know where and when they will strike next. While Islamabad has made strategic and tactical blunders, what hurts is that responsible quarters in America should doubt Pakistan’s commitment to the cause. Islamabad has deployed 90,000 soldiers in the area, at least 800 of them have died in action and hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in suicide bombings. These exclude over 100 killed during the crackdown on the Lal Masjid rebels. What is amazing is that if Pakistan has not succeeded in eliminating terrorists on its soil, what have the US-led forces done in Afghanistan in the last six years? Indiscriminate bombings have killed thousands of Afghan civilians, but the Taliban are as strong as ever, and the coalition forces have failed to check the militants’ two-way movement. As President Pervez Musharraf has said repeatedly, guarding the Durand Line is not Pakistan’s responsibility alone.
If the US-led forces have failed to stamp out terrorism in the plains of Iraq, how can they be expected to crush militants in Waziristan’s mountainous areas? History shows that peace can come to Fata only through talks with the tribal elders, all of whom are not pro-Taliban and some of whom have in fact played a key role in throwing a substantial number of Uzbek militants out of their hideouts. One hopes that Mr Obama’s talk is merely an election-year rhetoric, and that no responsible American would seriously think of getting more of his troops bogged down — this time in Waziristan’s treacherous mountains. The Pakistan Foreign Office has done well by not overreacting to the Obama balderdash.
However, Mr Obama — whom his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called “naïve” — can draw some solace from the fact that he is not the only one to have indulged in this sort of irresponsible talk; there are others in his country, including some legislators, who have spoken in a similar vein. There is no doubt that Pakistan’s war on terror has run into serious trouble. Last September’s deal with the militants has not worked, and Al Qaeda and Taliban have been able to regroup and strike where they want. Their reaction to the Lal Masjid episode shows that their ability to kill and destroy as far away from Fata as Islamabad remains intact; many would-be suicide-bombers are still lurking around, and one does not know where and when they will strike next. While Islamabad has made strategic and tactical blunders, what hurts is that responsible quarters in America should doubt Pakistan’s commitment to the cause. Islamabad has deployed 90,000 soldiers in the area, at least 800 of them have died in action and hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in suicide bombings. These exclude over 100 killed during the crackdown on the Lal Masjid rebels. What is amazing is that if Pakistan has not succeeded in eliminating terrorists on its soil, what have the US-led forces done in Afghanistan in the last six years? Indiscriminate bombings have killed thousands of Afghan civilians, but the Taliban are as strong as ever, and the coalition forces have failed to check the militants’ two-way movement. As President Pervez Musharraf has said repeatedly, guarding the Durand Line is not Pakistan’s responsibility alone.
If the US-led forces have failed to stamp out terrorism in the plains of Iraq, how can they be expected to crush militants in Waziristan’s mountainous areas? History shows that peace can come to Fata only through talks with the tribal elders, all of whom are not pro-Taliban and some of whom have in fact played a key role in throwing a substantial number of Uzbek militants out of their hideouts. One hopes that Mr Obama’s talk is merely an election-year rhetoric, and that no responsible American would seriously think of getting more of his troops bogged down — this time in Waziristan’s treacherous mountains. The Pakistan Foreign Office has done well by not overreacting to the Obama balderdash.
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