Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: Operation in North Waziristan is now
Pakistan’s internal matter, if we believe the United States Ambassador to
Pakistan Richard Olson. This suggests the US has probably changed its policy by
leaving it to Pakistan to decide whether the country’s military should launch
an operation in this tribal agency that was often described by US officials as hub
of al-Qaeda leadership.
For years, US officials said Haqqani Network,
designated by the US a terrorist outfit, is headquartered there and pressured
Pakistan to launch a military offensive against the group. Action against
Haqqani Network was one of the issues that strained Pakistan-US relations, as
US at times threatened of ‘boots on ground’ if Islamabad showed reluctance.
Haqqani Network refers to Jalaluddin Haqqani, a
commander in war against the Soviet who was sponsored and trained by CIA. Jalaluddin
is now old and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani is leading the group.
“North Waziristan…that decision on whether or not to
conduct an operation is entirely up to the government of Pakistan,” Richard
Olson said when asked during a setting with a small group of journalists
whether the US still considered tribal areas of Pakistan a threat to
Washington. “That is domestic security issue [of Pakistan] and so that is up to
the government of Pakistan.”
Bob Woodward revealed in ‘Obama’s Wars’ that US had
a ‘retribution’ plan of bombing 150 sites in the tribal areas of Pakistan if
any attack was postmarked from the country. That plan is still in place remains
unclear.
Stance
on government-TTP talks
US also seems to have softened its position on
Pakistan government’s plan to talk to militants to seek a negotiated settlement
to war with them. During the last one decade, US vehemently opposed talks
between the government and Taliban militants in tribal areas and in Swat
Valley.
Asked whether US is opposed to talks between the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the government, he said it was Islamabad’s
‘domestic concern.’ The ambassador said the US did not know all of the details
about the proposed talks between the government and militants. “We don’t know what
discussions have taken place or are taking place and what proposals exist,” he
said. He said his meeting with JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman was a
scheduled ‘courtesy call’ but the Maulana shared his perspective of the All Parties
Conference where consensus was sought for talks.
On
Talks with Afghan Taliban
What stage reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan
are? Olson believed political process in Afghanistan would provide solution to
the war. He urged Afghan Taliban to exhibit willingness to participate in the
‘Afghan-led’ reconciliation process in Afghanistan to achieve a political
settlement to the-more-than-a-decade-old war and hoped it would be ‘a very
positive outcome’ if it happens.
“The ball is in Taliban’s court. There has been this
offer to have an office [in Doha in Qatar] that is available for discussions.
The Taliban may accept or may not accept,” he added. “We think it will be a
good thing, and I talk with regard to Afghanistan, for Taliban to participate
in the Afghan political process.”
The ambassador said ‘US would talk and fight at the
same.’ When asked was it not contradictory, he said, “We don’t see any reason
they cannot continue at the same time.”
US wants Taliban to renounce violence, disassociate
itself from international terrorism and accept Afghan constitution as
preconditions, and Olson reiterated them. “We think that is a basis for this
and, if it happens, it will be a very positive outcome. Will it happen, I can’t
predict the future?” he said. The political settlement, he added, would
consolidate the gains in Afghanistan.
Talks between the US and Taliban in Qatar have
stalemated, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai said a several days ago that the
parleys have resumed. Taliban have denied his claim but the US ambassador declined
to comment on Karzai’s statement. “I will leave it to my colleagues in Kabul
[to respond to his statement],” he said.
Many quarters think US has failed in Afghanistan.
That it could not achieve its goals despite fighting for one decade. “You came
to fight to defeat an ideology but now you are accommodating that ideology.
What was the point in fighting for more than a decade?” a journalist asked. Richard
Olson simply shrugged off this perception that the US has failed in Afghanistan.
He said Afghanistan had changed during the last
decade and there were some notable accomplishments but that were not being
appreciated. He said more Afghans had now access to healthcare and as a result maternal
and infant mortality had dropped dramatically. He took credit for connecting Afghans
to the world through telecommunication and said education was expanded
dramatically with 30 per cent of the students now girls. He said Afghanistan
had now a capable army. “So we built and strengthened institutions in
Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s not true that we came, fought for 10 years and did
nothing.”
Supply
routes
US and its allies in Afghanistan are heavily relying
on supply routes that run through Pakistan. Islamabad blocked the ground routes
for supplies for several months to protest Salala attack that killed 26
Pakistani soldiers. Now that US is withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2014, Pakistan’s
ground routes assume more importance for Washington. Does US still have
concerns about the uncertainty of these routes? Olson said no. Pakistan is
committed to assisting US in withdrawing military equipment from Afghanistan,
be added. “US is not concerned,” he said confidently. He said though some Isaf
countries in the north of Afghanistan might use the northern ground routes, vast
majority of equipment would be transported through Pakistan.
Iran-Pakistan
gas pipeline
The ambassador avoided to talk on Iran-Pakistan gas
pipeline but warned of repercussions attached with the deal. When a journalist
rephrased his question to know the nature of sanctions that the deal could
trigger, Richard Olson said with lopsided smile, “I admire your tenacity in
asking it but I am afraid I really don’t want to conduct our diplomacy on this
sensitive topic through the media.” He said the US was working on energy
projects that would add up to 900 megawatts of electricity to the national
grid. “We feel we have been a good partner for Pakistan in many areas,
especially in energy sector,” he added.
To a question about a perception in the public that the
US might again abandon Pakistan after pulling out from Afghanistan, he said not
to compare 1988 and the last decade. He said the US would not repeat the
mistakes it had made in 1988.
Maulana
Fazlullah on US hit list
Richard Olson said he did not think Maulana Fazlullah,
responsible for a number of cross-border deadly attacks and shooting Malala
Yousafzia, was supported or controlled by some elements across the border but said
the fugitive militant was on the US target list. “We will take him off the
battlefield if there is an actionable intelligence,” he said.
Gwadar
Port
Interestingly, contrary to public perception, the US
ambassador described the Gwadar Port ‘potentially very good’ and ‘one of the
futures of the region’ in greater economic integration. “We would be delighted
to see goods flowing from Central Asia through Afghanistan to Gwadar and
vice-versa,” he remarked.
However, he said the US supported only the
commercial development of the port. He parried a question about the use of the
port for security purpose by saying it was ‘a different set of issues.’
To a question, he said the US did not back any
specific party but supported democracy in Pakistan. He termed the present time
as ‘electoral season’ in Pakistan.
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