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Pak 'double-dealt' US during Musharraf's rule: Riedel

A key adviser in Obama's transition team has charged that Islamabad fleeced Washington for billions of dollars in aid while allowing al-Qaeda to regroup in the tribal belt.

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NEW YORK: Accusing Pakistan of "double- dealing" the US during the Musharraf regime, a key adviser on terrorism in president-elect Barack Obama's transition team has charged that Islamabad fleeced Washington for billions of dollars in aid while allowing al-Qaeda to regroup in the tribal belt.

He expressed strong support for several counter-terrorism experts, who see the terrorist network's base in the mountains of Pakistan as America's greatest threat and perhaps biggest problem facing the incoming administration, according to a media report here.

Bruce Riedel, who retired from CIA after 29 years of service in 2006, speaks angrily about what he calls a "savvy campaign" by Pakistan's government under President Pervez Musharraf to fleece Washington for billions of dollars even as it allowed al-Qaeda to regroup in tribal lands bordering Afghanistan, the New York Times reported.
    
"We had a partner that was double-dealing us," he told the paper interview with the New York Times. "Anyone can be snookered and double-dealt. But after six years you have to start to figure it out."
    
Riedel dispenses counsel to the US administration-in- waiting on some of the thorniest problems it will face from the hunt for al-Qaeda leaders to likelihood of another attack on the American soil, as also on dealing with India and Pakistan, the report said. 

Riedel's new book 'The Search for Al-Qaeda', the Times says, jabs at the Bush administration for diverting troops and resources from Afghanistan to Iraq, and for a byzantine intelligence apparatus that "lacks a sheriff to lead the posse" in the hunt for Qaeda operatives.

Washington must approach Pakistan with a "subtle and deft touch," Riedel said, and strengthen the civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari to act as a counterweight to Pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus, which still dominates Pakistan's political life.

He sought a "tough-love approach" towards Islamabad -- "overhauling military aid to Pakistan and cutting sales of the big-ticket weapons the country has used to keep pace with ... India," the paper said.
    
Instead, he argues, the United States should be providing equipment like helicopters and night-vision goggles to help Pakistan's military navigate the mountain passes, where
militants have established their base.

It was Washington's too cozy relationship with Musharraf's military government, he argues, that fuelled the intense hatred for the United States in Pakistan.
    
"Anytime in Pakistan where more people blame you than India for the country's problems, you are in deep, deep trouble," he said.

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