Best (un)friends
First, on-topic, a relevant cartoon:
We've chewed the topic about Bin Laden's killing too much, so I won't focus on that part. Instead, let's talk about Pakistan. The mystery about the secretive inhabitants of that house in the suburbs of Abottabad who were burning their trash in their yard instead of risking to bring it out on the street, is already unraveled. Now Pakistan finds itself in the uneasy situation to have to explain how come the most wanted man in the world lived for at least 4 years right under the nose of the powerful Pakistani military.
It's still not very clear what part of the US operation was coordinated with the Pakistani authorities, if any. Pakistan hurried to deny any connections with the killing and announced that they didn't learn about the mission until the US special services had left the Pakistani air space. However a number of international experts are saying that they doubt such an operation could be possible without the knowledge, and probably assistance from Pakistan. Several facts point to that - the Pakistani intelligence services took responsibility for interrogating the women and children in the house, while local troops were clearing out the remains from the broken US helicopter which had technical problems.
It seems though that the Pakistani intelligence services were being kept aside from the operation itself. But even if they had known about it, I doubt they'd want to be part of the whole thing, in order not to aggravate the pro-Taliban populace, and meanwhile they didn't want to look like they had been aiding Bin Laden's hiding. On the other hand, and I know this is just a speculation, but the suspicions that Pakistan still played some part are supported by the fact that the Pakistani government was among the first to congratulate the US after the success - which could be also interpreted as a diplomatic move.
In case the Americans did not coordinate their moves with Pakistan (which seems more probable at this point), that shows the enormous mistrust between the two, who've been in strained relations lately. The US seems to have less and less trust in their old ally, despite all the billions they've poured into the country since the famed War on Terror was announced in 2001. The western media are now sporting headlines like "Pakistan's double game is exposed" and "The mask has fallen" and "Does Pakistan really think we will believe them?"
The question remains: are the Pakistanis totally incompetent in their efforts against terrorism, to such an extent that they weren't capable of seeing the beast in their back-yard, or had they really turned their back on America's trust by providing protection for her enemies? These are the two possible options, and neither of them would reflect too well on the US-Pakistani relations. A lot of people in the US are starting to wonder where those billions of dollars are sinking, which the US keeps raining on Islamabad. After all, the Pakistani military, despite all that heavy investment, is obviously a total joke as far as their preparedness for countering insurgence is concerned - and that contrasts very strongly with another "special relationship" pal of America's, Israel.
The bad news is that there's no other option but to keep Pakistan as a key ally, like it or not. Pakistan is in the epicenter of the battle with Al Qaeda. It's the west's most important and most difficult ally at the same time. After 9/11 Pakistan was standing in front of two choices - either join the US or be at the side of the terrorists. And practically, they chose both. The local military and intelligence remained close to the three main Afghani rebel groups - the Taliban from Quetta Shura of Mullah Omar, the Hezb-i-Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the network founded by commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. And though the same military and intelligence services played an important role for averting a number of attacks on western targets, the suspicion always remained that they sympathize with Al Qaeda. Part of the Pakistani power factors probably still want to play in both camps.
Some time ago the US president called Pakistan "the home of the cancer called terrorism". This marked the cooling of the relations between US and Pakistan. The Obama administration has been pressing the Pakistani government to take serious measures against the terrorist network Haqqani, which is responsible for the violence in Eastern Afghanistan, and also against the Taliban in the Punjab province. The rift between the allies deepened even more when in January a western mercenary working for the CIA fatally shot two Pakistanis and then returned home without being prosecuted. This prompted Islamabad to put an ultimatum to the US special services to leave the country.
After Bin Laden's death, the Pakistani ministry of the exterior issued a statement that the killing of terrorist #1 was "a significant obstacle to extremism around the world". Obama also said that he shares the opinion of his Pakistani counterpart Zardari that "this is a good historic day for both nations", adding that Pakistan's efforts against Al Qaeda and its branches will continue vigorously. But these warm declarations are in contrast with the rising suspicions expressed a few days ago by the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, that top Pakistani officials had known all the time where Bin Laden had been hiding.
It looks like a love me, hate me situation. The US policy against terrorism, especially the operations in Pakistan, are exrtemely unpopular inside that country. These moods are in contrast with the fact that the Pakistani authorities are in close cooperation with the US in the war against the Taliban, already for a decade. But many ordinary citizens don't hide their sympathies to the anti-western aggression of Al Qaeda. In a Gallup Pakistan poll from 2009, nearly 60% of the polled people said that the US are the greatest threat to their country, while India got only 18%, and the Pakistani Taliban 11%. And we all know how the Pakistanis think of India. Another poll from the Pew research center throughout 7 Muslim countries showed that the Pakistanis are those supporting the least the idea that democracy is the most preferable political system - only 42%.
In recent times Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise of the fundamentalist, anti-western sentiments, especially in the border province Punjab. At the moment it's evident that the US is not popular in the country at all, to use an under-statement. The US seems to have a serious problem with its image in Pakistan, and anti-Americanism is very huge there.
And this wasn't always so. Before the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan, about a third of the Pakistanis were considering the US untrustworthy. Since then their number has risen to two-thirds. In the 80's Pakistan was a true ally to the US, especially in pushing the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
The US authorities have been saying for a long time that the ruling core of the Afghani Taliban is centered around the south-western Pakistani town Quetta. Meanwhile, the terrorist network Haqqani is also based in Pakistan but is attacking the US troops in Afghanistan, and also exists relatively undisturbed in the mountainous tribal regions, thanks to their old ties with the Pakistani intelligence. Of course Pakistan categorically denies both accusations. But how much a country could be trusted, which until recently was insisting that neither Osama bin Laden, nor his second man Ayman az Zawahiri, nor Mullah Omar were hiding on its territory!?
But all this doesn't change the fact that Pakistan continues to be strategically irreplaceable for the US interests in the region. And despite all suspicions, Bin Laden's demise probably won't be an epilogue to this uncomfortable partnership between America and Pakistan.
We've chewed the topic about Bin Laden's killing too much, so I won't focus on that part. Instead, let's talk about Pakistan. The mystery about the secretive inhabitants of that house in the suburbs of Abottabad who were burning their trash in their yard instead of risking to bring it out on the street, is already unraveled. Now Pakistan finds itself in the uneasy situation to have to explain how come the most wanted man in the world lived for at least 4 years right under the nose of the powerful Pakistani military.
It's still not very clear what part of the US operation was coordinated with the Pakistani authorities, if any. Pakistan hurried to deny any connections with the killing and announced that they didn't learn about the mission until the US special services had left the Pakistani air space. However a number of international experts are saying that they doubt such an operation could be possible without the knowledge, and probably assistance from Pakistan. Several facts point to that - the Pakistani intelligence services took responsibility for interrogating the women and children in the house, while local troops were clearing out the remains from the broken US helicopter which had technical problems.
It seems though that the Pakistani intelligence services were being kept aside from the operation itself. But even if they had known about it, I doubt they'd want to be part of the whole thing, in order not to aggravate the pro-Taliban populace, and meanwhile they didn't want to look like they had been aiding Bin Laden's hiding. On the other hand, and I know this is just a speculation, but the suspicions that Pakistan still played some part are supported by the fact that the Pakistani government was among the first to congratulate the US after the success - which could be also interpreted as a diplomatic move.
In case the Americans did not coordinate their moves with Pakistan (which seems more probable at this point), that shows the enormous mistrust between the two, who've been in strained relations lately. The US seems to have less and less trust in their old ally, despite all the billions they've poured into the country since the famed War on Terror was announced in 2001. The western media are now sporting headlines like "Pakistan's double game is exposed" and "The mask has fallen" and "Does Pakistan really think we will believe them?"
The question remains: are the Pakistanis totally incompetent in their efforts against terrorism, to such an extent that they weren't capable of seeing the beast in their back-yard, or had they really turned their back on America's trust by providing protection for her enemies? These are the two possible options, and neither of them would reflect too well on the US-Pakistani relations. A lot of people in the US are starting to wonder where those billions of dollars are sinking, which the US keeps raining on Islamabad. After all, the Pakistani military, despite all that heavy investment, is obviously a total joke as far as their preparedness for countering insurgence is concerned - and that contrasts very strongly with another "special relationship" pal of America's, Israel.
The bad news is that there's no other option but to keep Pakistan as a key ally, like it or not. Pakistan is in the epicenter of the battle with Al Qaeda. It's the west's most important and most difficult ally at the same time. After 9/11 Pakistan was standing in front of two choices - either join the US or be at the side of the terrorists. And practically, they chose both. The local military and intelligence remained close to the three main Afghani rebel groups - the Taliban from Quetta Shura of Mullah Omar, the Hezb-i-Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the network founded by commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. And though the same military and intelligence services played an important role for averting a number of attacks on western targets, the suspicion always remained that they sympathize with Al Qaeda. Part of the Pakistani power factors probably still want to play in both camps.
Some time ago the US president called Pakistan "the home of the cancer called terrorism". This marked the cooling of the relations between US and Pakistan. The Obama administration has been pressing the Pakistani government to take serious measures against the terrorist network Haqqani, which is responsible for the violence in Eastern Afghanistan, and also against the Taliban in the Punjab province. The rift between the allies deepened even more when in January a western mercenary working for the CIA fatally shot two Pakistanis and then returned home without being prosecuted. This prompted Islamabad to put an ultimatum to the US special services to leave the country.
After Bin Laden's death, the Pakistani ministry of the exterior issued a statement that the killing of terrorist #1 was "a significant obstacle to extremism around the world". Obama also said that he shares the opinion of his Pakistani counterpart Zardari that "this is a good historic day for both nations", adding that Pakistan's efforts against Al Qaeda and its branches will continue vigorously. But these warm declarations are in contrast with the rising suspicions expressed a few days ago by the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, that top Pakistani officials had known all the time where Bin Laden had been hiding.
It looks like a love me, hate me situation. The US policy against terrorism, especially the operations in Pakistan, are exrtemely unpopular inside that country. These moods are in contrast with the fact that the Pakistani authorities are in close cooperation with the US in the war against the Taliban, already for a decade. But many ordinary citizens don't hide their sympathies to the anti-western aggression of Al Qaeda. In a Gallup Pakistan poll from 2009, nearly 60% of the polled people said that the US are the greatest threat to their country, while India got only 18%, and the Pakistani Taliban 11%. And we all know how the Pakistanis think of India. Another poll from the Pew research center throughout 7 Muslim countries showed that the Pakistanis are those supporting the least the idea that democracy is the most preferable political system - only 42%.
In recent times Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise of the fundamentalist, anti-western sentiments, especially in the border province Punjab. At the moment it's evident that the US is not popular in the country at all, to use an under-statement. The US seems to have a serious problem with its image in Pakistan, and anti-Americanism is very huge there.
And this wasn't always so. Before the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan, about a third of the Pakistanis were considering the US untrustworthy. Since then their number has risen to two-thirds. In the 80's Pakistan was a true ally to the US, especially in pushing the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
The US authorities have been saying for a long time that the ruling core of the Afghani Taliban is centered around the south-western Pakistani town Quetta. Meanwhile, the terrorist network Haqqani is also based in Pakistan but is attacking the US troops in Afghanistan, and also exists relatively undisturbed in the mountainous tribal regions, thanks to their old ties with the Pakistani intelligence. Of course Pakistan categorically denies both accusations. But how much a country could be trusted, which until recently was insisting that neither Osama bin Laden, nor his second man Ayman az Zawahiri, nor Mullah Omar were hiding on its territory!?
But all this doesn't change the fact that Pakistan continues to be strategically irreplaceable for the US interests in the region. And despite all suspicions, Bin Laden's demise probably won't be an epilogue to this uncomfortable partnership between America and Pakistan.