US, NATO passing the buck to Pakistan: Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Terms of engagement needed to be revisited so that all the partners are on the same page, says Qureshi.
On Express 24/7's show Witness with Quatrina, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan and a PPP MNA, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the US and NATO were passing the buck for the failure of strategies in combating the Taliban along the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan and America have been at logger heads over strategy implementation following a recent White House report calling on Pakistan to do more yet again. Pakistan’s ISI chief Lieutenant-general Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s talks with his CIA counterpart, Leon Paneta comes amid calls for scaled down CIA presence and drone strikes.
The program, hosted by Munizhe Jehangir featured Lt General (R) Talat Masood, a senior defence analyst and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML-N in the studio with former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi joining in via a video uplink from Multan.
Talat Masood pointed out that the reason for a failed strategy implementation was that strategic coherence and clarity that was gaining within Pakistan, was lacking with the Americans. He went on to say that the Americans, in for the short haul, did not recognize the long term strategic interests of Pakistan, and hence were constantly demanding something from the Pakistani side which would be counterproductive to Pakistan’s sovereignty. Raymond Davis showed that it was unacceptable to have such an extensive and powerful foreign intelligence network to operate within ISI’s domain.
The PML-N has differed with the ruling establishment over the strategies employed and the way the war had been handled. Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML-N blamed the ruling establishment for acting late on the 14-point resolution adopted by the parliament in 2008. He said that the PML-N never supported the War on Terror and were against the blind dictation by the Americans, the terror problem needed to be addressed at its root cause.
Qureshi, who negotiated the bulk of the strategy and policy with regards to the Americans, said that there was a trust deficit with the Americans. The terms of engagement needed to be revisited in a trilateral meeting between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US so that all the partners are on the same page.
However a weak leadership in Pakistan has been detrimental to the war, said Masood. The civilian government needs to take a more proactive approach in revisiting the deal with America.
Pakistan and America have been at logger heads over strategy implementation following a recent White House report calling on Pakistan to do more yet again. Pakistan’s ISI chief Lieutenant-general Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s talks with his CIA counterpart, Leon Paneta comes amid calls for scaled down CIA presence and drone strikes.
The program, hosted by Munizhe Jehangir featured Lt General (R) Talat Masood, a senior defence analyst and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML-N in the studio with former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi joining in via a video uplink from Multan.
Talat Masood pointed out that the reason for a failed strategy implementation was that strategic coherence and clarity that was gaining within Pakistan, was lacking with the Americans. He went on to say that the Americans, in for the short haul, did not recognize the long term strategic interests of Pakistan, and hence were constantly demanding something from the Pakistani side which would be counterproductive to Pakistan’s sovereignty. Raymond Davis showed that it was unacceptable to have such an extensive and powerful foreign intelligence network to operate within ISI’s domain.
The PML-N has differed with the ruling establishment over the strategies employed and the way the war had been handled. Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML-N blamed the ruling establishment for acting late on the 14-point resolution adopted by the parliament in 2008. He said that the PML-N never supported the War on Terror and were against the blind dictation by the Americans, the terror problem needed to be addressed at its root cause.
Qureshi, who negotiated the bulk of the strategy and policy with regards to the Americans, said that there was a trust deficit with the Americans. The terms of engagement needed to be revisited in a trilateral meeting between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US so that all the partners are on the same page.
However a weak leadership in Pakistan has been detrimental to the war, said Masood. The civilian government needs to take a more proactive approach in revisiting the deal with America.