US Senators call for review of Pakistani ties The United States must “fully review” its ties with Pakistan and consider cuts or new restrictions to military and economic aid, Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham urged Monday .
A joint statement from the veteran American politicians conveyed the depth of feeling felt by many of their contemporaries in Washington about the need to re-evaluate a decade-long strategic relationship that has foundered this year.
“The United States has been incredibly patient with Pakistan. And we have been so despite certain undeniable and deeply disturbing facts,” they said.
“The time has come for the United States to fully review its relations with Pakistan. We must assess the nature and levels of our support.”
McCain serves as the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, while Graham is a member of that panel and is the top Republican on the committee that allocates US foreign aid.
“All options regarding US security and economic assistance to Pakistan must be on the table, including substantial reductions and stricter standards for performance,” they said.
The senators then cited alleged support from Pakistani army and intelligence officials for the Haqqani network “and other terrorist groups” blamed for attacks on US targets in Afghanistan “that are killing US troops.”
Such actions require that “US policy toward Pakistan must proceed from the realistic understanding that certain actions of Pakistan’s military are contributing to the death and injury of our men and women in the military and jeopardising our national security interests,” said the senators.
Ties between Washington and Islamabad plummeted after a US commando raid killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, just two hours drive north of the capital Islamabad, in May.
Relations slid to a new low last month when NATO air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border and injured a further 16, prompting Pakistan to boycott the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan’s future.
Pakistan also shut off NATO supply routes to Afghanistan that passed within its border. It also demanded that the US vacate Shamsi airbase, the site of supposed covert US drone launches.
Islamabad officials have also refused to cooperate in a US investigation into the November 26 incident. President Barack Obama offered condolences and assured the Pakistanis that their troops were not deliberately attacked.
McCain and Graham also offered their “deep condolences” over those killed in what they called an “unfortunate and unintentional” strike and predicted the investigation would “clarify the circumstances of this terrible tragedy.”
“The Pakistani government’s response to these events, however, has been deeply troubling and has added to the continued deterioration of our relationship,” they added.
They were referring to Pakistan’s decision to prevent NATO supplies from reaching Afghanistan, ordering US intelligence officers to leave the country, and boycotting the Bonn conference, and reports that Islamabad may have decided to suspend all bilateral counter-terrorism agreements.
“Such steps by the Pakistani government would mark a new low for our relationship,” they warned.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who led an interagency review of US policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan in early 2009, on Monday said the United States should give greater weight to containing the Pakistani army.
Speaking at a panel discussion in the US capital, he said that for now, Washington was “not doing enough on the containment part. We’re slipping and sliding into it, but I think without a coherent framework.”
According to Riedel, the Pakistani army is gradually installing a new military dictatorship, without even needing to resort to a coup.
“The new military dictatorship that is emerging in Pakistan will be very different from its predecessors,” he said.
“The facade of civilian government is likely to continue to go on… with very little real power. The media will continue to be very active and alive, except when they criticise the military.”
Meanwhile, a senior Pakistani military official says the force is temporarily pulling back some of its troops from at least two or three centres meant to coordinate activity with international forces across the Afghan border.
The official said on Tuesday the troops are returning for several days of \"consultation\" to determine how to improve coordination with NATO forces in Afghanistan after the infamous airstrike.
US military officials earlier expressed concern that the move to pull out soldiers could hamper efforts to liaise with Pakistani forces, increasing the risk something could go wrong again.
Both the Pakistani and the US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The US and Pakistan have offered different accounts of what led to the NATO attacks against two army posts along the Afghan border before dawn on November 26, but the deadly incident seems to have been caused in part by communication breakdowns.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that Pakistan wants to repair relations with the United States.
Pakistan may still have troops at the coordination center in Torkham in the country\'s northwest Khyber tribal area, but has pulled out of the other two along the border, said US officials.
NATO attacks have killed Pakistani troops at least three different times along the porous and poorly defined border since 2008, but the incident on November 26 in the Mohmand tribal area was by far the most deadly.
US officials have said the incident occurred when a joint US and Afghan patrol requested air support after coming under fire. The US checked with the Pakistan military to see if there were friendly troops in the area and were told there were not, they said.
Pakistan has said the coordinates given by the Americans were wrong — an allegation denied by US defence officials. Pakistani officials have also said the attack continued even after military authorities contacted one of the border coordination centers, possibly explaining Islamabad\'s decision to curtail its participation with them.
Gilani said Monday that negotiating new ties with the US would ensure that the two countries \"respected each other\'s red lines\" regarding sovereignty and rules of engagement along the border.
\"We really want to have good relations with the US based on mutual respect and clearly defined parameters,\" he said in the interview at his residence in the eastern city of Lahore.
Despite Gilani\'s gentler rhetoric, the gulf between the two nations remains wide.