There has been a substantial increase in cross border US drone attacks inside Pakistani territory since the new Obama administration took charge. Which indicates clear American commitment and intentions to continue and take the war on terror further inside Pakistan.
As for President Obama, we know that American policies are merely influenced by the president of the country. Real force behind the policy making is those think tanks, powerful groups and strong lobbies, that exist in USA.
Commenting on unmanned aerial strikes in Pak Afghan border region, CIA Director Leon Panetta said in February: “I don’t think we can stop just at the effort to try to disrupt them. I think it has to be a continuing effort, because they aren’t going to stop.”
Recent efforts to review the American policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan by President Obama and Richard Holbrooke’s visit to the region also carries another aspect to it. To get reassurances from Pakistanis in war against terror.
“We have two goals,” a senior administration official said. One is to receive their input for the Obama administration’s ongoing strategy review on Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. “But it’s also to hear commitments — the Pakistanis on taking on terrorists themselves, and the Afghans on cleaning up their government.”
“There are not too many brand-new ideas,” the official said. “But our expectations of what they have to do are not just based on what we want them to do, but what they say they’re going to do. It gives us a different basis for going back to them in the future.”
But this brings us to another question, what has been the role of Pakistani politicians and new Pakistani government in “War against Terror”, and in stopping the cross border attacks and convincing USA that hitting inside Pakistan won’t serve their purpose?
The photographs, obtained from Google Earth by The Times of London and taken three years apart, depict the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan, 30 miles from the border of Afghanistan. In the first photograph from 2006, three comparatively small craft are parked on the tarmac. Military aviation experts shown the image said that the aircraft appeared to be MQ1 Predator UAVs — the model used by the CIA to observe and strike militants on the Afghan border. The MQ1 Predator carries two laser-guided Hellfire missiles, and can fly for up to 454 miles, at speeds of up to 135 mph, and at altitudes of up to 25,000 feet, according to the US Air Force. In the second photograph, a brand-new airplane hangar that could easily fit the three aircraft is situated right off the runway, and perimeter defenses have also been established.
Over the past few months, new Pakistani administration has been the key player in communicating to the world about the threats caused by the Taliban and islamic extremists in the country. They have shown their concerns even about talibanization of Pakistani nuclear weapons. And in return demand the coperation of US government to fight insurgency in the country.
The difference between the Obama and Bush administrations, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, is that “the present administration is willing to listen. They are very frank. They’re saying, ‘We do not have a magic formula. . . . Let Pakistan, let the U.S., let Afghanistan — let’s all stick together and find a solution,” Qureshi told CNN.
In a series of interviews last month, Qureshi said that Pakistan objected to the Predator strikes and that he had asked the United States to supply his country with drones to carry out its own missile attacks against extremists. Pakistan had also requested other sophisticated weaponry, including Cobra attack helicopters, communications and night-vision equipment. Although the drones were unlikely — and both U.S. and Pakistani officials say they were privately in agreement on continuation of the CIA strikes — the administration and Congress were likely to approve more military assistance along with a multi billion dollar aid package.
So, the dollars are coming in and our administration is ready to continue its commitment to War on Terror (in Afghanistan and may be in Pakistan as well). But are they ready to face the growing public pressure against the increased drone attacks in the country?
Aftereffects to these attacks can be catastrophic for Pakistan and cause destabilization in the country. If militants face heavy casualties in the border areas through drones and military action, they will move further inside Pakistan, setting up their bases and strong holds in much quite and largely populated cities creating anarchy and establishing supply channels to reach border. Pakistani police is not professionally trained and capable of handling those militants and so army will have to intervene to enforce law and order again. But this time, fight will be much inside the country and will simply not be termed as border insurgent clashes.
Fact is largely being established about possible American defeat in Afghanistan . General view is that they are trying to find a safe exit, both from Iraq and Afghanistan to save themselves from humiliation. American and NATO generals have failed to curb Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, increasing mass murders, opeum trade, weapons trade, and are pointing their fingers towards Pakistan, asking to do more and more.
In Pakistan, general public view about War on Terror is that we are fighting an american war. Why should we not let them fight it alone? Why should we bleed our soldiers and countrymen for them? What assurances we have from Americans that our best interests will be served and India will be kept away from entering into our country through Afghanistan? What can Americans commit about keeping Israelies dressed in US Army uniform away from our soil? What improvements in economy we have seen in return of our long shown fortified commitment to War on terror?
We will see in near future if predators and guns together can bring peace in the region or the fire will ignite and spread all across till USA itself.
Changing Times 