Ryan Crocker, as an ambassador to Pakistan from US, urged the Islamabad government many times to initiate action against all those militants roaming freely inside the country and putting all their efforts to attack U.S. forces present in neighboring Afghanistan.
In the year 2007, when he was about to complete his three-year tenure as ambassador, Crocker held a meeting with the head of the Pakistani Army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and he explained the reason why Islamabad is not ready to reverse its course.
The United States had a very short attention span, the general said, according to Crocker. “How long are you staying this time? Because you come and you go,” Kayani told Crocker.
“If you think we are going to turn the Taliban and Haqqanis and others into mortal enemies of ours and watch you walk out the door, you are completely crazy. Are we hedging our bets? You bet we are.”
The exchange between the two showcases the mutual frustration and misunderstanding that have plagued relations between the two countries, Pakistan and United States. Tim and again, many U.S. Presidents tried their luck and failed to persuade Pakistan to control the Taliban and the Haqqani militants on the Afghan border. And now, the same challenge is faced by Donald Trump and the US officials are debating on ideas about pressing Pakistan.
Pakistan failed to take an action against Afghan militants on its own territory, despite the fact that US stopped aid supply of USD 1.3 billion in January to Islamabad over the same issue. Neither did it attempt to arrest the militants nor it restricted the flow of fighters and weapons across its border with Afghanistan, the US officials said. “What I would say is they’ve done the bare minimum to appear responsive to our requests,” a senior administration official from the U.S. told reporters this month.
Trump’s deputies are trying to weigh unprecedented political penalties on Islamabad for providing haven to Afghan militants waging war against U.S. backed government in Afghanistan. The options which are under consideration include, revoking Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally, permanently cutting off the U.S. military aid which was suspended two months ago, and by imposing visa bans or other such sanctions on individuals in the Pakistani government who are deemed to be responsible for providing support to the militants.
But the White House is already engaged in an intenal debate about the steps that need to be taken against Pakistan, inviting arguments under previous U.S. presidents. Some of the officials from the White House camp want the government to take a hard line stance against Pakistan by maintaining that years of aid and accommodation have produced little in return. But other voices in the administration are of the view that alienating a nuclear-armed country of 200 million people bordering China.
The recent appointment of John Bolton as national security advisor last week by Trump, and the nomination of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state could easily turn the discussion in favor of tougher measures against Islamabad.
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