November 16, 2008
by intelNews
Ever since the United States began to engage in systematic military incursions and airstrikes against perceived terrorist targets in Pakistan, the Pakistani government has been vocally criticizing the Bush Administration for its “counterproductive” methods, which do not help “meet the objectives of the war on terror”, in the words of Mohammed Sadiq, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Now a new report by The Washington Post has disclosed that the US airstrikes and military incursions are in fact covered under a secret US-Pakistani high-level agreement, according to which “the US government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan’s government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes”. Under the deal, the US government is said to have temporarily halted ground incursions, but regular airstrikes against targets in Pakistani territory have intensified.
Although this report will be denied by the Pakistani leadership, it rings accurate and is substantiated by the long and telling history of US-Pakistani security relations. It essentially signifies the continuation of the fundamentals of these relations, which appears to have remained untouched despite the recent change of guard in Islamabad.
The obvious ironic element in this development is highlighted by the recent comments of Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zardary, who candidly —and accurately— stated that the US strikes on Pakistani soil are “not good for our position of winning the hearts and minds of people”. Time magazine reports that “[o]pinion polls routinely show that an overwhelming majority of ordinary Pakistanis oppose US actions inside their country”. Yet “[t]he government has to respond to public sentiment, leading to harsh, uncompromising language from political and military leaders”.
This new development must not terminate the debate about the legality of the US military actions inside Pakistan. Even if the Pakistani government has authorized these actions, they still constitute extrajudicial assassinations. The latter are not justified by their reported sanctioning by the country’s elected regime. Nevertheless, this latest repot strengthens the increasing consensus of observers that, despite the recent change of guard in Islamabad, it is still business as usual in Pakistan’s relations with Washington. [JF]
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US airstrikes now deep inside Pakistani territory
November 21, 2008 by intelNews Leave a comment
We have previously reported on the alleged US-Pakistani high-level agreement, according to which “the US government refuses to publicly acknowledge the [US missile] attacks [on Pakistani soil] while Pakistan’s government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes”. The Associated Press now reports that “for the first time Wednesday, the missiles targeted militants beyond the tribal areas, deeper inside Pakistan”. What is more, Pakistani militants have caught on to the secret deal and are now threatening to retaliate by attacking Pakistani government targets. Taliban militant leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur has warned that he will abandon a 2006 peace treaty with the Pakistani military and that his men will “launch suicide attacks on foreigners and government targets unless the raids stop”. One of his representatives said on Thursday that “the Pakistani government is clearly involved in these attacks by American spy planes, so we will target government interests as well as foreigners”. The immediate US objective in launching airstrikes on Pakistani soil is to sabotage the intention of the Pakistani and Afghan governments to strike a deal with the Taliban. All three sides so far resist reverting to all-out war. But if the US strikes continue (which they probably will, even if Pakistan withdraws its current tacit consent), the US objectives are likely to be achieved. [JF]
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Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with News, Pakistan, Taliban, United States, War on Terrorism