WASHINGTON: The US drone programme, which conducts aerial strikes against suspected militant targets in tribal areas, will not only ultimately fail to influence the outcome of an Afghan settlement, but also severely tarnish America's image in Pakistan, an American expert stressed in a newspaper opinion piece.
Michael Krepon, who is the Director and co-founder of the South Asian Program at the Stimson Center, noted in The Washington Post that Afghanistan's future matters more critically to Pakistan than to the United States.
"Afghanistan's future matters much more to Pakistan than to the United States. This elemental truth is forgotten in US deliberations about how best to leverage Pakistan to achieve a political settlement in Afghanistan," he noted.
About the unmanned predator drone strikes, which the US regularly carries out against militant targets, the expert noted they have only succeeded in casting the US in a more negative light than even longtime arch rival India. "These strikes will ultimately fail to influence the outcome of an Afghan settlement, but they have already succeeded in making the United States more hated in Pakistan than India."
Islamabad has repeatedly denounced drone attacks on its tribal areas as counterproductive to the overall fight against terror, and that such unilateral actions violate the country's sovereignty and provoke militancy.
Human rights activists have also condemned drone strikes for the high number of civilian casualties. The Obama administration claims drones are important in taking out al Qaeda linked militants.
In the Post, Krepon wrote that Pakistan wants a government in Kabul that, after most of US troops withdraw in 2014, will be friendlier to it than India. He said Pakistani resolve is rooted in the assumption that, if India gains a strong foothold in Afghanistan, then Pakistan's largest and most resource-rich province, Balochistan, would be ripe for an India-supported insurgency.
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@Bilal: "@cautious you are Indian correct,,, People like you are doing their best create difference b/w Pakistan and US. and we know it very well." No one needs to do anything to create animosity between Pakistan and any other entity in the world. Pakistan has the proven capability to accomplish that all by itself. You tried your best to create hatred between India and US for better part of your existence. Were you successful? Tell us, do you have any meaningful relations any government/state/country/people in this world? Even those entities you yourself created, the Taliban of various shades, are now attacking you. No matter how hoarse you might cry, even the "deeper, higher, wider, narrower friend" would much rather no one sees them standing beside you. Pakistanis are consumed with self-hate which comes out in the form of terrible relations with everyone else and even between themselves! For your information (if you did not guess) I am also a proud Indian. Does that change any facts?
@Cautious: @Iron hand:
You both never came to Paksitan so you don't know about the Pakistani's so you have not right to comment about what Paksitani think about America.
You both have mind set about the Paksitani's but remember these days will over soon for Paksitan and you people who are war mongers and killing supporters of innocent people will see the result of this illegal drone killing soon.
@ayesh_khan: Since when afghan people started to decide about their own future????? Only person can say these typ eof things who does't know the situation of Afghanistan.
Afghans future America will decide my dear not Afghans.
@ayesh_khan: and afghan people want US out .US should also respect their sentiments.
@David: "[Pakistan] wants Afghanistan as a satellite vassal state against India,"
And what does the US want for Afghanistan? "Democracy" under Karzai and the Northern Alliance drug pushers? In fact what does the US want from everyone but a slave-master relationship and has shown that it will use deadly force to enforce this relationship.
The thousands killed in Iraq alone put to shame the body counts of everyone else post Vietnam (and that too was an American misadventure).
@ayesh_khan: Exactly. The US should not then also try to install a fake government that is more friendly to India than to pakistan. Just do fair and free elections and get out of Afghanistan. I wish rangit Singh was alive and ruler of India> he had the wisdom to say no to British and be part of great British-Soviet game.
@cautious you are Indian correct,,, People like you are doing their best create difference b/w Pakistan and US. and we know it very well. one can easily find your like minded people in comment sections of all news paper.
The author says “Afghanistan’s future matters much more to Pakistan than to the United States. This elemental truth is forgotten in US deliberations about how best to leverage Pakistan to achieve a political settlement in Afghanistan” --- it is basically a contradiction. The "elemental truth" that he fails to admit (perhaps betraying his real loyalties) is that Pakistan cannot and WILL NOT play any role in Afghanistan's "political settlement" but only that of a spoiler. It wants Afghanistan as a satellite vassal state against India, and in a future stand-off possibly against even USA in the latter's likely future conflict with Iran. There is no way that there will be any eye-to-eye between the USA and Pakistan here. That is why the former is intent on keeping a sizable force post 2014 that will continue the war to the benefit of India in the main.
@Cautious: Interesting. Did you go door to door asking about Pakistani people about their pre-911 opinion of the US? Or are you quoting some source which only revealed itself to you? Quoting your source might have ever so slightly given some weight to your "brilliant" opinion.
The vast majority of the public was more concerned about earning their livelihood than scheming or having any ill will towards the US or west in general.
@Cautious: Pakistan didn't support OBL, it would be better if you refrain from absurd conspiracy theories.
This really makes me laugh - as if Anti-Americanism was caused by the drone program! Anti-Americanism is an indispensible tool Pakistani decision makers use to divert attention from the many internal troubles of the country. America could cancel the drone program, pull out of Afghanistan, and send milk and cookies to every Pakistani, and it wouldn't make a bit of difference in the crazy, conspiracy theory laden, blame-America-for -everything world most Pakistanis inhabit. America has officially given up on trying to make nice with the masses of Pakistan - it's a lost cause. The only goal of the drone program is to kill terrorists, and that's going pretty well.
Calling all "drone mongers", "arm chair warriors" and "Pleasure seekers after each drone strike" to comment now.
Has this guy ever lived in either Pakistan or Afghanistan? Or does we work with the US or the Pakistani military? If not, then how come he's an expert?
What the author doesn't mention is that Pakistani's didn't like American's before the drone attacks -- as evidenced by their support for OBL and the fact that the majority of them believed that 911 was a fabrication engineered by Israel/CIA and the boogeyman. So arguably the American's haven't lost much in their continued drone attacks. Further -- it says a lot about Pakistan when your big strategic goal in Afghanistan is to have Afghans dislike India - how that helps Afghanistan or even Pakistan is beyond me -- no wonder NATO excluded you from sitting at the table when they planned their exit strategy.
Finally a sane voice in western media
"In the Post, Krepon wrote that Pakistan wants a government in Kabul that, after most of US troops withdraw in 2014, will be friendlier to it than India"
Pakistan can whatever it wants. But it is not uptothem to decide what type of government afghaistan has. It is upto the Afghan people to make that decision.
Maybe not change the outcome, but it will remove some rats from pakistani soil