ISLAMABAD – The recent strategic recalibration in the region betweenPakistan China and Russia on the one hand and the US India on the otherhand are altering the entire security scenario in the region.
Pakistan has come under severe US attack in the recent days as a result ofsuch new alignment. However the apparent reason for this is almost thousandor so Haqqani network fighters.
American leadership finds fault with Pakistan’s sincerity in going againstthe militants unsettling Afghanistan where NATO and US soldiers are nowbadly beleaguered.
Americans allege that Pakistan is ‘running with hare and hunting withhounds’ and demanding to hunt down Taliban militants allegedly putting upin Pakistan and are responsible for attacks on NATO and American forces inAfghanistan.
Pakistan has time and again made it clear that she (Pakistan) has doneenough to weed out the militancy from her soil with huge sacrifices as seenfrom the palpable lull in the recurrence of terror incidents.
Pakistani logic is irrefutable that in Afghanistan there is ‘governancefiasco’. Ethnic tensions, racial frictions, illegal drug business, lowmorale of Afghan forces coupled with increasing trend of desertions etc arefew of the major causes contributing to weak governance encouragingmilitants to run amok.
While American complaints are all about Pakistan being insincere in takingdecisive punitive action against some Taliban elements that are disturbingpeace in Afghanistan, Pakistan has its own potent arguments to reject suchallegations
Pakistan could contain and check the turbulence in her soil despiteabetment to this menace from sovereign countries like India and Afghanistanwith American connivance.
Rag-tag Taliban militants should not pose a challenge to well-organisedNATO and American forces having technological edge with capable soldieryand rich budgetary allocations.
Unrest in Afghanistan cannot be addressed merely by putting pressure onPakistan.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s closeness with China is the actual cause ofconcern for Washington. This has occurred mainly due to Washington’s recent‘policy shift’ wooing New Delhi to its friendly fold.
In view of this, America must read that necessity drove Islamabad to seekreadjustment of her strategic ties.
Pakistan has huge youth bulge, energy crisis, joblessness and alliedmaladies likely to generate social unrest if left unaddressed. Thispressure can only be absorbed and handled with a buoyant national economyin place.
China’s investment commitment in Pakistan has the potential to helpPakistani economy grow vibrant to absorb the bulging youth pressure.