Pakistan needs to climb the escalatory ladder to meet the Americans halfway at least.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to Ejaz Haider’s article of September 28 titled “US-Pakistan crisis: the either/or tribe”.
Pakistan needs to climb the escalatory ladder to meet the Americans halfway at least. Capitulation and complacency is not an option anymore. If we are arm-twisted and cajoled into a collision course with the major Afghan Taliban factions, it is game over for any chance of peace. Right now, in our posturing it would be useful to err on the side of overreaction. Right now all the useful statements are coming from the civilians, in particular the foreign minister who has surprisingly handled herself well.
If our intelligence agencies have any counter-intelligence on the Americans regarding Balochistan, cross-border raids into Pakistan, the CIA humint (human intelligence) network in Fata, they need to start leaking them to the media. The only way to get out of this one is to make the Americans back off.
Ali Wazir
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2011.
