Saturday, May 19, 2012

Haqqani calls for honest debate on foreign policy

* Former ambassador to US says Washington must recognise Pakistan’s interests

LAHORE: Pakistan must crack down on terrorists and extremists for its own sake but the US must take responsibility for actions that have upset and antagonised Pakistanis, former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview.
According to a report on the CNN blog by Lucky Gold, President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to attend a UN summit on Afghanistan in Chicago this weekend. However, his meeting with US President Barack Obama may depend on whether Pakistan will open the critical NATO supply route into Afghanistan.
In this atmosphere of distrust and dysfunction, Haqqani appeared on Thursday on Amanpour’s show.
“We must understand that there are two parallel narratives here,” said Haqqani, speaking from Washington.
“Pakistanis think that the Untied States is an untrustworthy ally; the Americans think that Pakistanis don’t always fulfil their end of the bargain, especially when it comes to terrorism.”
But how to end the deadlock and distrust?
Haqqani realises it won’t be easy, saying, “... We need to crack down on these extremists for Pakistan’s sake. More Pakistanis have been killed by them than they have killed Americans... America will leave Afghanistan someday. But we will still be haunted by the remnants.”
Among the things that “haunt” his country, he said, is the refusal to allow for honest debate and accountability
“Look, I am, as a Pakistani, very concerned about the direction of my own country. I am among those who feel that there are elements in Pakistani society who don’t allow us to have an honest and realistic debate about foreign policy.”
“We just want to blame our neighbours, our enemies,” said Haqqani, adding, “We don’t want to take account of what’s wrong at home.” However, he did not minimise his country’s legitimate concerns, “We are concerned about the future of Afghanistan. We don’t want India to create a kind of presence in Afghanistan that the US wouldn’t have tolerated if the Soviets had created it in Mexico during the Cold War.”
But hampering any honest discussion between Pakistan and the US, he said, is “a small group of people ideologically motivated and seeking essentially the domination of an Islamist ideology within Pakistan, but unable to get votes”.
“Talk to any Pakistani for five minutes... and by the fifth minute he will be getting angry about America far more than he would about whoever hid Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Now there’s been a year that’s gone and we haven’t yet prosecuted anyone for hiding and protecting Osama bin Laden there. So my point is, as Pakistanis, we need to take some responsibility.”
At the same time, “Pakistan demanded an apology for the Salala incident (the lethal air strike) when Pakistan’s troops were killed. America disregarded that request.” He was speaking of reciprocity. “Look, we helped the Americans fight the Soviets in the ‘80’s and what was the result? Civil war in Afghanistan, the Americans left... Then 9/11 came, we became partners with the Americans again, and this time when the Americans leave, we will still be picking up the pieces.” daily times monitor

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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