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Pressing Pakistan to Become a Dependable Ally

by PRESIDENTIAL POLICY: DOES IT MAKE THE GRADE?, JAMES JAY CARAFANO, PHD May 17, 2011
 
The aftermath of the Seal Team Six raid dominated foreign policy and national security news last week. At the forefront of the debate is whither US-Pakistan relations. Obama has been far from clear on how he is going to handle Islamabad.
 
Heritage Foundation analyst Lisa Curtis who follows the region more closely than anyone summed up the challenge Pakistan presents, “[t]he onus is now on Pakistan to demonstrate that it is willing to work more closely with the U.S. to target other terrorists sheltered within its borders and to cooperate more fully with the U.S. goal of stabilizing Afghanistan. Without a change in perspective from Pakistan’s security establishment on these crucial issues, the relationship would seem to be poised for failure. Simply maintaining the status quo is no longer feasible.” In order to show the Pakistanis the US is serious she recommends, “The U.S. should suspend—not cut off—security aid to Pakistan until the Administration develops more information on the support network that protected bin Laden and determines whether any Pakistani officials were complicit in harboring the international terrorist. The information recovered at bin Laden’s compound should help answer these crucial questions.” It remains to be seen what the president will do.
 
Likewise, in following the demise of bin Laden there has been renewed debate over the way forward in Afghanistan. Again, the president has done little to signal what he plans to do. In a speech to military personnel at Fort Campbell, Kentucky the president renewed his intent to begin withdrawal of forces this summer, but the size and speed of the drawdown are still unclear.
 
 
John Kerry addresses Pakistani leaders yesterday.
 
Writing in “Afghanistan: Time for Political Strategy to Capitalize on Military Gains,” a research report that has proven highly influential in NATO circles, Curtis and co-author Sally McNamara conclude that rather than focusing on drawing down, “in order to build on these tentative military gains, the Obama Administration must take a stronger leadership role in driving political reconciliation in Afghanistan, intensify efforts to work with Pakistan to deny the Taliban sanctuary there, and bolster diplomatic efforts that encourage regional support for a stable, peaceful, and unified Afghanistan that is inhospitable to international terrorists.”
 
It is unsettling that the president’s policies on these two key issues are so opaque. Eliminating terrorist havens in both countries is crucial to preventing a resurgence of al Qaeda and the next 9/11.
 
Thus, the president gets a grade of “B” for last week for being there, but that grade is tentative, if the president chooses to disengage conventional forces too quickly and does not press Pakistan to be a dependable ally in the fight against transnational terrorism, then his grade and the security of America will be at risk.
 
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is a leading expert in defense affairs, intelligence, and strategy, military operations and homeland security at the Heritage Foundation.
 

James Carafano is a leading expert in defense affairs, intelligence, military operations and strategy, and homeland security at The Heritage Foundation. He was an Assistant Professor at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and fleet professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Carafano is the author of several military history books and studies. Carafano also is the coauthor of Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom; coauthor of the text book, Homeland Security published by McGraw-Hill; and the principal author of Emergency Responders: Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and has provided commentary for ABC, BBC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, SkyNews, PBS, National Public Radio, the History Channel, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, Telemundo, Al Arabiya and Australian, Austrian, Canadian, French, Greek, Hong Kong, Irish, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish television. His editorials have appeared in newspapers nationwide including The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, The New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today and The Washington Times. Carafano is a member of the National Academy's Board on Army Science and Technology, the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee, and is a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute.

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