Death of Bin Laden Prompts Review of Pakistan Relations, Afghanistan Goals
Bin Laden’s Death Sparks Calls For Review of Pakistan Aid
Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S.-Pakistan relationship is “one of the most fraught, complicated and difficult bilateral relationships literally that exists in the world today,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The U.S.-Pakistan relationship is “one of the most fraught, complicated and difficult bilateral relationships literally that exists in the world today,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Photographer: Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images
U.S Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the U.S. Armed Services Committee, called for a “robust” reduction of American troops in Afghanistan this year and some hard questions for Pakistan.
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the U.S. Armed Services Committee, called for a “robust” reduction of American troops in Afghanistan this year and some hard questions for Pakistan. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The death of Osama bin Laden prompted immediate calls from U.S. lawmakers to re-evaluate the relationship with Pakistan, where the al-Qaeda leader was found and killed less than 35 miles from the capital, Islamabad.
Even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. is “committed to supporting the people and government” of Pakistan, politicians and analysts raised questions about support for the country and the need to maintain troop levels in neighboring Afghanistan. The discovery of bin Laden’s hideaway in Abbottabad, where Pakistan’s military academy is located and many retired military officers live, is the latest event to heighten U.S.-Pakistan tensions.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry issued a statement today saying that the U.S. action that killed bin Laden was mounted without the country’s knowledge and may undermine future cooperation.
CIA director Leon Panetta, in an interview with Time magazine released today, said U.S. officials planning the raid “decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission” because “they might alert the targets.”
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for a “robust” reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan this year and some hard questions for Pakistan.
‘Lot of Questions’
“The Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer, given the location, the length of time, and the apparent fact that this was actually -- this facility was actually built for bin Laden and its closeness to the central location of the Pakistani army,” Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said at a news conference.
Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, an architect of a 2009 bill that tripled non-military aid to Pakistan, committing $1.5 billion annually for five years, called a new round of hearings to “assess the strategic relationship” between the two countries and to examine how to arrive at an “acceptable end-state” in Afghanistan.
White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said yesterday that members of Congress are “understandably” raising questions about whether bin Laden got support from some elements of the Pakistani government. “We are looking right now at how he was able to hold out there for so long, and whether or not there was any type of support system within Pakistan that allowed him to stay there,” Brennan said.
Meeting in Pakistan
Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said that the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, was in meetings with Pakistani leaders scheduled before bin Laden’s death. The U.S. “has raised questions indeed and those questions are being asked,” Toner said.
The administration continues to view cooperation with Pakistan as “vital” to counterterrorism efforts, he said. “This has paid dividends and will continue to pay dividends.”
Afghanistan troop reductions are planned to begin in July, with an unspecified number this year. The Obama administration, which aims to have all troops out by 2014, has said repeatedly that the drawdown will depend on conditions on the ground. Levin is among lawmakers who are pressing President Barack Obama to do more than make a “symbolic” withdrawal.
“There ought to be a significant reduction” of U.S. troops, Levin said, to establish that Afghanistan’s security is up to the Afghans.
Several lawmakers said yesterday that the U.S. expects Pakistan to help defeat militants launching attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan from its territory.
‘Strings Attached’
“We clearly need to keep the pressure,” said Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a member of the Armed Services Committee. “One way to do that is to put more strings attached to the tremendous amount of military aid that we give the country.”
Obama’s 2012 budget proposes $1.2 billion in assistance for Pakistan, largely to support counterinsurgency training for troops posted along the border with Afghanistan.
The U.S.-Pakistan relationship is “one of the most fraught, complicated and difficult bilateral relationships literally that exists in the world today,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former director of policy planning at the State Department.
Levin said that lawmakers have long complained about the Pakistani intelligence service not giving the U.S. information about local terrorist networks, specifically the Haqqani network allied with the Taliban, and allowing Pakistan to become the “launching pad” for attacks on U.S. troops.
Pakistani intelligence either “looked the other way” or “even worse” has been working with local militant groups to create problems within Afghanistan, Levin said.
Drone Attacks
At the same time, Pakistanis have been angered by U.S. aerial drone attacks aimed at militants that have mistakenly killed civilians. The Jan. 27 shooting of two Pakistani men by an American working for Central Intelligence Agency deepened Pakistani anger.
A Pakistani diplomat said the fact that the U.S. did not consult with or involve his country in the operation was no reflection on ties between the two.
“In recent years, the cooperation between our governments, militaries, and law enforcement agencies increased pressure on al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” the diplomat said, speaking on the condition he not be named, “and this progress must continue and we are committed to our partnership.”
Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, told reporters in Islamabad today that it was “besides the point who did what in this operation. The issue of Osama bin Laden is history, and we should not remain mired in the past.”
Pakistani Cooperation
Christopher Davidson, a professor of Middle East politics at Durham University in Durham, England, said there was every reason to doubt the extent of Pakistan’s cooperation.
“The bleak reality of all this is that the U.S. had to go into this alone, probably staying a step ahead of the Pakistanis,” Davidson said in a telephone interview. “The likelihood is that some senior members of the Pakistani military knew all along” where bin Laden was.
“The relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan can only be more strained after this somewhat public shaming,” he said.
There are plenty of reasons for the U.S. to maintain its relationship with Pakistan and not rush an Afghanistan withdrawal, said Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington policy group.
“Bin Laden was only a small part of the issue,” Ottaway said. “The Taliban has its rear bases in Pakistan. There are all sorts of Islamist groups in the country. The tribal areas are almost outside government control.”
Afghanistan War
In his May 1 announcement of bin Laden’s death, Obama said that “going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al-Qaeda and its affiliates.” Brennan said yesterday that the administration also wants to ensure that al-Qaeda can’t make Afghanistan into a home base again.
The president will have some support for those goals from Republicans and an independent.
Senator Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who leads the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the killing of bin Laden gives the U.S. “an increased momentum in the war in Afghanistan.” He cautioned against pulling out too early as it could create another safe haven for the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
“Any decisions made about Afghanistan have to be made based on the facts on the ground,” Lieberman said.
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said that bin Laden’s death “makes our engagement in Afghanistan and Pakistan more important, not less.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net; Roxana Tiron in Washington at rtiron@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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