Acknowledging that relationship with Pakistan has never been worse as it is now, a top United States Senator said that the drone strikes in that country will continue.
“The drone attacks will continue. They must continue to deal with the threats in the tribal region, the ungoverned part of Pakistan,” Senator Lindsey Graham, said in an interview.
“This is where al-Qaeda and the Taliban go to seek refuge, and these attacks coming out of Afghanistan are not attacks on the Pakistani people. They are attacks on terrorists who want to undermine us, kill our soldiers, and also undermine Pakistan,” he said.
Mr. Graham said, Pakistan he thinks is not going to change its behaviour until they believe that the US is going to be successful in Afghanistan.
“The more you talk about leaving Iraq, the more you talk about leaving Afghanistan, the more uncertainty you create in the region,” he said.
“The day that the Pakistani government and army realises that Afghanistan is not going to go back into the hands of the Taliban will be the day that they stop betting on the Taliban,” he said.
Keywords: Afghan war, NATO drone strikes, war against terror, al-Qaeda, AfPak
It's all very well to sit in Wash DC & say we will send drones & fire missiles killing at our whim. Funny the people in N & S Waziristan who have are self-governing do not appreciate being bombed. Difficult to understand? Try asking the CIA to drop missles obnundesirables in Washington DC & see if that improves your love of your govt.
As with piracy so with extremists - end the causes of piracy & the causes of extremism (whether of US or other variety).
If Pakistan were to "go after the Haqqanis" as the US always demands, then isn't it
logical to presume the Haqqanis and their sympathizers will simply blow
themselves up in Pakistani bazaars in revenge? The US is essentially asking
Pakistan to accept massive civilian casualties in order to save armed soldiers of the
all-volunteer American military (and in turn, make Obama look good in his re-
election campaign).
Lindsey Graham is right when he suggests that the Pakistanis are in support of the
Taliban because they think that America cannot win. Americans get tired of war
quite quickly, and as in Iraq, leave the job unfinished. Pakistan is right to presume
that the US will abandon Afghanistan as it did in the 1989 - after all, Americas set
an arbitrary deadline for withdrawal without paying any head to ground realities,
and are busy negotiating with Pakistan to reopen borders to evacuate their
military! Now that's American commitment!
India's condition is completely different from US. We haven't shown courage to do that(attacking terror havens) in past. It is not good to that now as it will infuriate Pakistan. And it will affect confidence building measures. India only can make Pakistan to do something about it but not by it's own. Pakistan also must understand terror is not a way to achieve its objectives.
Just one correction Senator. No one exactly knows when Pakistan will change from its lying and duplicitous ways. You may already know this and your just being PC.
The drones should also be used to exterminate the terror camps on eastern of border with India. India does not have the gumption nor the guts to do the same. Antony and Krishna are only well versed in repeating the same statements when a terror attack take place.
This looks to be the right assessment of situation that prevails in Pakistan today. But they have reached so far with the support of US only.
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