Weighing in: US backs Pakistan’s efforts against militancy, says envoy

Beth Jones upbeat about progress in Pakistan-US strategic dialogue.

ISLAMABAD:

US Principal Deputy Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan  Beth Jones said on Monday that however Pakistan chooses to deal with the issue of militancy – through negotiations or the use of force – it remains an ‘internal’ issue and the United States is primarily concerned with curbing the menace of terrorism in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Jones, who is also her country’s ambassador to Pakistan, said Washington is ‘supportive of the Pakistani government’s efforts in counter-terrorism’. When asked how Washington views the dialogue with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jones said the US ‘does not take sides’. Jones expressed her condolences over Monday’s twin attack in Islamabad’s district courts and said, “We are very much in support of counter-terrorism.”



In September 2011, a period when diplomatic relations between Washington and Islamabad dipped to their lowest levels yet, US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen described the Haqqani network as ‘a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency’. However, two years later, Jones calmed the waters by terming the statement a personal one: “he [Mullen] was not speaking for the US government,” she said, “he was speaking for himself.” The ambassador added, “What is inside Pakistan is the government of Pakistan’s internal matter to deal with.”

She hinted that the US will continue its financial commitment to the Pakistani military under the Coalition Support Programme but did not elaborate on the scale of future reimbursements or a timeline for the payments. “We would like to continue the CSF,” she said, “It is in the interest of the US as well as Pakistan.” In the last decade, Pakistan has received roughly $12 billion as part of the programme, 60 per cent of which is slated for the military.



While Jones said there had been no substantial progress in reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan, she added that the US appreciated the role Pakistan was playing. With regards to the lingering Bilateral Strategic Agreement between the US and Afghanistan, she said the US wished to finalise the agreement as soon as possible to aid plans of a drawdown of troops in the country. However, as the outgoing Afghan president Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the treaty, she said the US is considering a ‘variety of options’ regarding the presence of its troops in the country in the future. In a phone conversation with Karzai, she said President Barack Obama had informed the Afghan president that if the BSA were not signed, the US would have no legal basis to keep troops in the country after 2014. She explained that Nato defence ministers have taken note of Karzai’s hesitation to sign the BSA, deciding that there would be ‘zero troops’ in Afghanistan after 2014, but with contingency plans set in place. Jones added that Afghan security forces would be able to hold their own in the absence of residual US troops in the country, saying their training and political will would help them face threats. Many areas vacated by the International Security Assistance Force were being successfully retained by Afghan forces, she said, adding, “We believe that negotiated settlement is the way to go.”

Commenting on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, Jones said the sanctions hold firm and Pakistan would face the implications of any progress made in the project prior to a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.

She added that she was hopeful of progress made in strategic dialogue between Pakistan and the US, saying areas of ‘convergence’ have been identified and meetings of five working groups were under way. She said a working group on law enforcement would meet once the interior minister scheduled a trip to Washington. Responding to a question on the possibility of Pakistan-US civil nuclear cooperation modeled on the US-India deal, she said significant progress has been achieved by the working group on energy cooperation; however, she did not identify if cooperation on nuclear technology was part of the group’s agenda. She added that the US had allocated funds for major hydel power projects enabling Pakistan to enhance its electricity generation and the US would assist Pakistan in the construction of a dam in Bajaur Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2014.