Thaindian News

Washington, May 4(ANI): The United States must leverage its success in finding and killing al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistani territory to “press its demands for Pakistan to do all it can to hunt down additional terrorists” on its soil, noted South Asian affairs analyst Lisa Curtis has said.

Osama bin Laden, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed Sunday night in a top secret operation involving a small team of US Special Forces in Abbottabad city, located 50 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres east of Peshawar.

US President Barack Obama’s hand has been “strengthened by the successful operation against bin Laden. The Pakistanis are under pressure to explain their lapses in detecting bin Laden when he was under the nose of the Pakistani military,” said Curtis, who is a Senior Research Fellow for South Asia at the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

“The US should leverage its recent success against al-Qaeda to press its demands for Pakistan to do all it can to hunt down additional terrorists on its territory,” she added.

Curtis said that the US must develop policies that give Pakistan concrete incentives to move in this direction, rather than simply settle for bombing and raiding terrorists in the country.

“This should include enhancing our bilateral Strategic Dialogue that allows Pakistan to put forward its own agenda items in the relationship,” she added.

The US’ security aid to Pakistan is conditioned under Section 203 of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, according to which the US Secretary of State must certify to Congress that Pakistan has “demonstrated sustained commitment to and is making significant efforts towards combating terrorist groups” consistent with the purposes of U.S. assistance.

On March 18, Hillary Clinton certified that Pakistan met these benchmarks for fiscal year 2010, but the evidence indicates otherwise, said Curtis, pointing out that the ability of bin Laden to be easily sheltered in Pakistan is just the “latest example that Pakistani leaders don’t always play straight with the US in the war on terrorism.”

However, Curtis stated: “Now is not time to cut off all aid, but it is time for the US to get tougher in its messaging to Pakistan, both publicly and privately. And if the U.S. expects Pakistani cooperation, it must demonstrate stronger commitment to the mission in Afghanistan and stop talking about arbitrary deadlines for withdrawal.”

She also pointed out that if Pakistan begins to understand that the US will remain in Afghanistan until the country is stable and secure and that it will not permit the Taliban to run the country again, it would help convince Islamabad reassess its options there and possibly develop alternatives to supporting the Taliban.

The Pakistanis are playing a game of chicken with the US in Afghanistan and they believe Washington will give up first, she added.

Curtis said that Pakistan also should consider the costs of alienating the US by remaining recalcitrant on Afghanistan.

“Islamabad must be careful of getting what it wishes for- a re-Talibanized Afghanistan that would surely have a destabilizing impact on Pakistan and contribute to its own extremism problems,” she warned. (ANI)