NEW YORK, Aug 20: Citing Pakistan’s help in capturing and handing over terrorists, including top Al Qaeda leaders since 9/11, two former Bush administration officials maintained that “the recent events should harden our resolve to support it (Pakistan)” instead of chiding it.

“With Pakistan’s help, Britain and the United States were able to prevent a tragedy last week. We must ensure that such help is always available, and hope that it eventually becomes unnecessary through Pakistan’s efforts,” Richard L Armitage, former US deputy secretary of State, and Kara L Bue, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, said in a well-argued Op-Ed article in Sunday’s New York Times.

“Pakistan has worked closely with the United States, sharing intelligence and capturing and handing over many terrorists, including top Al Qaeda leaders. It has sent more than 70,000 troops to the Afghan border and conducted successful operations to flush out foreign fighters. Hundreds of Pakistani troops have been killed in these efforts, and thousands injured,” they pointed out.

Noting that “in the wake of the foiled terror plot in London involving British Muslims with Pakistani connections, all eyes are again on Pakistan as the breeding ground for terrorists”, they argue “while the arrests may serve as proof to some that the country cannot be relied on as an ally in our fight against Islamic extremism, we would argue that the recent events should harden our resolve to support it.”

Reflecting on evolving US-Pakistan relationship, they pointed out “as Pakistan has pursued change, so too has the United States in its policy towards the country. In the past, our consideration of Pakistan was tied to that of India, and vice versa. We talked of ‘India-Pakistan’ as a sort of two-headed entity. To its credit, the Bush administration has managed to de-hyphenate the relationship. We now attempt to deal with each country on its own terms, for our own reasons.”