WASHINGTON: A senior American lawmaker said on Sunday that new tensions in US-Pakistan relations were contributing to a rapid decline in support for the Afghan war in the United States.
“Americans are war weary,” said Senator John McCain, who ran against President Barack Obama in 2008. “They see the president of Afghanistan appearing ungrateful. They see the government of Pakistan in a very aggressive fashion in many ways towards us,” he told Fox News.Pakistan`s “continued relations with the Haqqani network and others” also worried the Americans, he added.
Despite such concerns, or perhaps because of them, US policy-makers, military leaders, and legislators remain deeply divided on America`s relations with Pakistan.
“I have real difficulty explaining to (American) people … what we`re doing spending billions of dollars in Pakistan … when they don`t like us,” said Senator James Risch, a Republican member of the Senate`s Foreign Relations Committee.
The pressure on the White House to take a tougher line with Pakistan mounted last week with a letter sent by five senators to the secretaries of state and defence. The letter demanded an assessment of Pakistan`s commitment to fight terrorism before Congress approves more aid.
But Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned that key US interests won`t be addressed by a simple split between the US and Pakistan. Instead, he hinted at the possibility of seeking Pakistan`s help to encourage the Haqqani network to join the Afghan reconciliation.
Senator Kerry also urged the two countries to “move beyond their strained relations” to a more mutually beneficial cooperation.
Senator Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, argued that it was in the “US national security to have a stable” Pakistan as the two countries needed “continued engagement on terrorism and nuclear-security issues”.
At the State Department, spokesman Mark Toner noted that cooperation with Pakistan was also necessary for the success of US efforts to “move forward the Afghan-led reconciliation process”.
But the strongest defence for Pakistan came from US military leaders who, unlike the lawmakers, have avoided publicly censuring Pakistan over Osama bin Laden`s discovery in a Pakistani garrison city.
When an Indian journalist asked a Pentagon spokesman, Col Dave Lapan, if he believed that the attack last week on a naval facility in Karachi had also exposed the vulnerability of Pakistani nuclear arsenal, he said the weapons were safe.
“With all the information available to us, we can say that the arsenal is safe,” he added.
State Department`s Mark Toner endorsed this view.
“The safeguard and security of Pakistan`s nuclear weapons are of concern (and) it`s an issue that we discuss with the Pakistani government and we`re sure that they`re under safeguard.”
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also disagreed with the suggestion that Bin Laden`s presence in Abbottabad had proved that the US assistance to Pakistan had been a waste.
“I do not think that the money that we have spent in Pakistan has been a waste. The reality is that Pakistan now has 140,000 troops on the border. Their actions in Swat and in South Waziristan have been helpful to us,” he said.
Mr Gates conceded that the US relationship with Pakistan was not what the Americans wished it were.
“I would say this administration has made a significant effort to try and change the nature of our relationship with Pakistan, in terms of a more enduring partnership,” he explained.
“And I would say that, obviously, the record is a mixed one. And we both have concerns, but there`s also no doubt in my mind that we have to continue to make our best efforts to manage this relationship going forward.”
Pakistan, he noted, was very important, “not just because of Afghanistan but because of its nuclear weapons, because of the importance of stability in the subcontinent. So we need to keep working at this”.
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