Tensions with India drives Pakistan's strategy in Afghanistan: US Centcom chief
Gen Austin says they are encouraged by Pakistan's action against militants in Fata which achieved near-term successes
US military's Central Command chief General Lloyd Austin. PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON:
With Pakistan and India inching towards a thaw in bilateral relations, US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief General Lloyd Austin told a Congress committee on Tuesday that tensions between the two nuclear-tipped neighbours affects regional stability and directly impacts Pakistan’s strategy in Afghanistan.
While testifying before the Congress’ House Armed Services Committee on US Centcom’s posture, Gen Austin said that “Tension between Pakistan and India also continue to threaten regional stability and largely drives Pakistan’s regional strategy, especially as it relates to Afghanistan.”
"Our desired end-state is a stable sub-region characterised by a low risk of conventional or nuclear war, with regional states committed to non-interference with respect to their neighbors’ internal affairs, the denial of sanctuary for violent extremist organistaions (VEOs), and the non-proliferation of WMD."
Ties with Pakistan
The US CENTCOM chief said that they had made substantial progress in efforts to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan over the past year.
“The US-Pakistan military-to-military relationship continues to improve. Key contributing factors are our FMF, international military education and training, and the Coalition Support Fund.”
In December 2014, he said the US had addressed respective expectations for the scope and scale of future military-to-military engagements. “We also prioritised our security cooperation at the Defense Consultative Group Conference with the goal to help Pakistan to build additional capacity in support of their counter-insurgency and CT operations and other common objectives.”
He added that several excess defense articles, including MRAPs are pending transfer to Pakistan.
Militant presence in Fata and Pakistan’s actions
The presence of militants in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the latter's action against them has been a subject of much concern in the US. Gen Austin said on Tuesday that while militants were present in the border areas, Pakistan had been taking action against them.
“Violent extremist organisations, to include the remnants of core al Qaeda (AQ), continue to operate in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and, to a lesser extent, parts of eastern Afghanistan.”
He added that these groups threaten regional stability, plan attacks against the US and partner interests, and pursue weapons of mass destruction (WMD) with Taliban insurgency continuing to present a credible threat to the Afghan government.
“We are encouraged by the (Pakistan) leaderships’ commitment to counter-insurgency operations in the FATA and openness to improve relations with Afghanistan,” he said. “The Pakistani military’s recent operations to clear militant strongholds in North Waziristan and other FATA regions and to prevent the militants’ return have achieved near-term successes. However, Pakistan will likely continue to face the threat of VEOs for the foreseeable future.”
Gen Austin added that even as Pakistan takes on the militants, it continues to face a number of political, economic, and security challenges that threaten to undermine the long-term stability of the state. “Violent extremists operating in the country exploit these conditions for their own purposes. This is hindering the security forces’ ability to protect the population from terrorist attacks and prevent extremists from exporting violence across the region.”
Though the positive trajectory of ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the December 16, 2014, attacks, “leaders of both countries have demonstrated a desire to improve their cooperation going forward.”
This is something, Gen Austin said, USCENTCOM will continue to do its part to help strengthen and ultimately solidify.
Afghanistan drawdown offers opportunities
Gen Austin, who has overseen war theaters ranging from the Middle East to South Asia and Central Asia, said that the US drawdown in Afghanistan offers new opportunities for them to foster a strong relationship between the United States and Afghanistan and with other partner nations in the Central and South Asia (CASA) sub-region.
“In particular, this would contribute to improved Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, which would allow for increased counter-terrorism cooperation in the region, along with possibilities for reconciliation,” the statement read.
“Our drawdown from Afghanistan has created an opportunity to normalise our relationships with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and this may, in turn, encourage the two countries to find common ground in countering the violent extremist organistaions (VEOs) operating in their border region. We are working to identify and facilitate implementation of confidence-and trust-building measures between Pakistan and Afghanistan to further reduce border tensions and increase military cooperation.”
Larger role for regional partners
Referring to sequestration and its impact on the US military’s reach and role in the region, Gen Austin said that regional partners will have to play a bigger role against extremism in the region.
"While the size of our footprint will decrease in the coming years, our continued presence in Afghanistan will allow us to maintain much-needed pressure on al Qaeda and other extremist groups."
However, he added that US partners will need to assume a larger share of the burden for providing improved stability in the region.
“Given the stakes involved, we must keep on assisting them in their efforts. At the same time, we have to find additional methods for dealing with the convergence of compound threats under increasing budget and resource constraints.
"We cannot afford restrictions or reductions that would degrade our military posture and put our core national interests at greater risk."
Even with the budget cuts and force drawdown, Gen Austin hinted that they may maintain capabilities for unilateral action such as drone strikes and even possible repeats of the May 2, 2011 raid in Abbottabad. "We will maintain a unilateral capacity to conduct Counter-Terrorism (CT) operations against high-value targets and groups in the region that pose a threat to the US or our core national interests."
However, expanding on a more nuanched approach towards its CT operations and impact in the region, Austin said that they will work to improve military-to-military relationships by facilitating more frequent contact between and among the region’s military leadership to prevent future conflicts.
With Pakistan and India inching towards a thaw in bilateral relations, US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief General Lloyd Austin told a Congress committee on Tuesday that tensions between the two nuclear-tipped neighbours affects regional stability and directly impacts Pakistan’s strategy in Afghanistan.
While testifying before the Congress’ House Armed Services Committee on US Centcom’s posture, Gen Austin said that “Tension between Pakistan and India also continue to threaten regional stability and largely drives Pakistan’s regional strategy, especially as it relates to Afghanistan.”
"Our desired end-state is a stable sub-region characterised by a low risk of conventional or nuclear war, with regional states committed to non-interference with respect to their neighbors’ internal affairs, the denial of sanctuary for violent extremist organistaions (VEOs), and the non-proliferation of WMD."
Ties with Pakistan
The US CENTCOM chief said that they had made substantial progress in efforts to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan over the past year.
“The US-Pakistan military-to-military relationship continues to improve. Key contributing factors are our FMF, international military education and training, and the Coalition Support Fund.”
In December 2014, he said the US had addressed respective expectations for the scope and scale of future military-to-military engagements. “We also prioritised our security cooperation at the Defense Consultative Group Conference with the goal to help Pakistan to build additional capacity in support of their counter-insurgency and CT operations and other common objectives.”
He added that several excess defense articles, including MRAPs are pending transfer to Pakistan.
Militant presence in Fata and Pakistan’s actions
The presence of militants in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the latter's action against them has been a subject of much concern in the US. Gen Austin said on Tuesday that while militants were present in the border areas, Pakistan had been taking action against them.
“Violent extremist organisations, to include the remnants of core al Qaeda (AQ), continue to operate in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and, to a lesser extent, parts of eastern Afghanistan.”
He added that these groups threaten regional stability, plan attacks against the US and partner interests, and pursue weapons of mass destruction (WMD) with Taliban insurgency continuing to present a credible threat to the Afghan government.
“We are encouraged by the (Pakistan) leaderships’ commitment to counter-insurgency operations in the FATA and openness to improve relations with Afghanistan,” he said. “The Pakistani military’s recent operations to clear militant strongholds in North Waziristan and other FATA regions and to prevent the militants’ return have achieved near-term successes. However, Pakistan will likely continue to face the threat of VEOs for the foreseeable future.”
Gen Austin added that even as Pakistan takes on the militants, it continues to face a number of political, economic, and security challenges that threaten to undermine the long-term stability of the state. “Violent extremists operating in the country exploit these conditions for their own purposes. This is hindering the security forces’ ability to protect the population from terrorist attacks and prevent extremists from exporting violence across the region.”
Though the positive trajectory of ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the December 16, 2014, attacks, “leaders of both countries have demonstrated a desire to improve their cooperation going forward.”
This is something, Gen Austin said, USCENTCOM will continue to do its part to help strengthen and ultimately solidify.
Afghanistan drawdown offers opportunities
Gen Austin, who has overseen war theaters ranging from the Middle East to South Asia and Central Asia, said that the US drawdown in Afghanistan offers new opportunities for them to foster a strong relationship between the United States and Afghanistan and with other partner nations in the Central and South Asia (CASA) sub-region.
“In particular, this would contribute to improved Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, which would allow for increased counter-terrorism cooperation in the region, along with possibilities for reconciliation,” the statement read.
“Our drawdown from Afghanistan has created an opportunity to normalise our relationships with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and this may, in turn, encourage the two countries to find common ground in countering the violent extremist organistaions (VEOs) operating in their border region. We are working to identify and facilitate implementation of confidence-and trust-building measures between Pakistan and Afghanistan to further reduce border tensions and increase military cooperation.”
Larger role for regional partners
Referring to sequestration and its impact on the US military’s reach and role in the region, Gen Austin said that regional partners will have to play a bigger role against extremism in the region.
"While the size of our footprint will decrease in the coming years, our continued presence in Afghanistan will allow us to maintain much-needed pressure on al Qaeda and other extremist groups."
However, he added that US partners will need to assume a larger share of the burden for providing improved stability in the region.
“Given the stakes involved, we must keep on assisting them in their efforts. At the same time, we have to find additional methods for dealing with the convergence of compound threats under increasing budget and resource constraints.
"We cannot afford restrictions or reductions that would degrade our military posture and put our core national interests at greater risk."
Even with the budget cuts and force drawdown, Gen Austin hinted that they may maintain capabilities for unilateral action such as drone strikes and even possible repeats of the May 2, 2011 raid in Abbottabad. "We will maintain a unilateral capacity to conduct Counter-Terrorism (CT) operations against high-value targets and groups in the region that pose a threat to the US or our core national interests."
However, expanding on a more nuanched approach towards its CT operations and impact in the region, Austin said that they will work to improve military-to-military relationships by facilitating more frequent contact between and among the region’s military leadership to prevent future conflicts.