http://www.rediff.com/news/report/americans-blame-pakistan-for-their-own-failures/20120609.htm








Rediff.com »
News »
'Americans blame Pakistan for their own failures'

'Americans blame Pakistan for their own failures'

June 09, 2012 17:46 IST

Share
this
Ask
Users
Write a
Comment
Print this
article



United States
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's recent statement -- that the United
States was losing patience with Pakistan for its refusal to eliminate
safe havens for insurgents who attack American troops -- has created a
new row between the two countries.


Panetta, during a recent visit to Kabul,
said, "We are reaching the limits of our patience" about Pakistan's lack
of action against the safe havens for Al Qaeda-linked militants near
its border with Afghanistan.
"We have made that very clear time and
again and we will continue to do that, but as I said, we are reaching
the limits of our patience," Panetta said.
Pakistan has strongly rejected Panetta's
statement. On Saturday, the Foreign Office issued a statement saying the
defence secretary was oversimplifying some very complex issues that
Pakistan was dealing with in its efforts against extremism and
terrorism. These issues needed to be seen in the context of overall
peace and stability in Afghanistan and the broader region.
"Pakistan has repeatedly said that it
will not allow its territory to be used against any country, nor will it
allow any safe heavens on its territory. We are fighting terrorism and
extremism in our own national interest and nobody should doubt our
resolve and determination in this regard. Our sacrifices remain
unparalleled and our resolve unshakable," said the statement.
Pakistan warned that such statements are misplaced and unhelpful in bringing about peace and stability in the region.


Reacting to Panetta's statement, The
Nation wrote in its editorial, "It is because its (America's) patience
is running out, not because of the attack on a US base in eastern
Afghanistan, which is blamed on the Haqqani Network. The network has
become an Afghan government tool to explain away its failures of
governance to the American, and, in turn, the Americans use it to blame
Pakistan for their own failures."
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United
States Sherry Rehman has also termed Panetta's statement as "unhelpful"
and said, "This kind of public messaging from a senior member of the US
administration is taken very seriously in Pakistan, and reduces the
space for narrowing our bilateral differences at a critical time in the
negotiations."
She said, "It adds an unhelpful twist to the process and leaves little oxygen for those of us seeking to break a stalemate."


Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Defence and Defence Production Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed also
believes that such statements reflect the US's failure in Afghanistan.
"Losing patience with Pakistan and
blaming Pakistan for the US's failure in Afghanistan was a reflection of
imperial arrogance as well as failure to accept responsibility for
Washington's own mistakes," he told reporters in Islamabad [ Images ].
He added that the Muslim world had also
"lost its patience" with the US for its policy of flexing its military
might. Since 9/11, the United States had spent over $3 trillion in wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq, in which an estimated 2,25,000 people had been
killed and almost 8 million displaced, according to figures provided by
an American university.
"It is, therefore, not surprising that
the Muslim world has lost patience with the United States due to its
policies based on military might destabilising the entire region", said
Mushahid.
Responding to Panetta's statement, head
of Jamaat e Islami Syed Munawwar Hasan said it is a tactic to make
Pakistan surrender to US's demand of reopening of NATO supplies.
"The US and its allies are furious
because the NATO supply lines have not been reopened so far. They were
playing the carrot and stick policy," he said.
Pakistan had shut off the supply line for
NATO troops in Afghanistan after an air-strike at the Salala check-post
killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November last year. The US
administration has expressed regret over the incident but refused to
issue a formal apology so far.
Tahir Ali In Islamabad