Relations between Washington and Islamabad have touched their lowest ebb since Pakistan became an American ally in the war on terror in 2001.
For the two countries which have been allies in the war of terror since 2001, the honeymoon may have ended at least for now
ISLAMABAD: Relations between Washington and Islamabad have touched their lowest ebb since Pakistan became an American ally in the war on terror in 2001, especially after Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s statement that he could send troops across the border, which Pakistan believe was actually a message coming from the United States.
Well place diplomatic circles in Islamabad say that Hamid Karzai has actually spoken on behalf of the Bush administration which has lately increased pressure on Pakistan by opposing its peace accords with the Taliban militants and launching air strikes in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
These circles say the main problem is the American demand that its own forces would carry out operations against militants inside the Pakistani territory, which Islamabad has resisted saying its own troops would conduct such operations in Pakistan. The deadlock has thus caused friction in the Pak-US ties and their relationship has become uncertain following two recent cross border air strikes that killed several people.
The diplomatic circles in Islamabad are of the view that the recent peace deals signed by the new government twin with Taliban militants in the border areas effectively reversed the anti-terror policy Musharraf had been pursuing at the behest of the US — no reprieve or respite to militants until they surrender or are decimated.
And the American anger was reflected in the Pentangon’s recent statement that: “Pakistan should make sure the peace deals are worth more than the paper they are written on”. However, the Pakistani foreign office circles in the federal capital justify the Military-Militants peace deals, saying the bloody wave of suicide bombing has almost stopped across Pakistan since the new government took over and started negotiations with the militants to positively engage them.
Since 2003, the foreign office circles say, the Pakistan army has lost around 1,200 soldiers fighting the militants in tribal areas, as compared to less than half of that number of lives lost by the Allied forces from Oct 2001. “Yet the US and its allies never stop demanding that Islamabad should do more in the war on terror”.
Even otherwise, they add, it is because of Pakistan’s role in the war on terror that Islamabad had to decrease troop deployment along its unfriendly borders with India. In comparison, they pointed out, the US has deployed 30,000 troops and 38 other countries another 47,000 in the battlefields of Afghanistan.
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