Thaindian News

Washington, April 6(ANI): The Obama administration has given a harshly critical assessment of Pakistan’s efforts towards eradicating terrorists in a new report, saying that even after years of work with the Pakistani military, “there remains no clear path toward defeating the insurgency” thriving in the country.

This conclusion is drawn in a 38-page report- on the state of the war in Afghanistan and the efforts to defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan- given to Congress, The New York Times reports.

The report noted that the Pakistani military’s effort to clear militants from Mohmand, a part of the northwest Pakistan’s tribal areas, was failing for the third time in two years.

The failure was “a clear indicator of the inability of the Pakistan military and government to render cleared areas resistant to insurgency return,” it added.

The report said that the country cannot keep its helicopters flying and is reluctant “to accept US-provided helicopter maintenance teams,” part of a broader concern about letting American troops operate openly on the ground in Pakistan.

“What remains vexing is the lack of any indication of ‘hold’ and ‘build’ planning or staging efforts to complement ongoing clearing operations,” the report pointed out.

“As such, there remains no clear path toward defeating the insurgency in Pakistan, despite the unprecedented and sustained deployment of over 147,000 forces,” and the deaths of 2,575 Pakistani troops since 2001, it added.

The report also lamented that although that four coordination centres operated by US, Pakistan and Afghan troops are up and running on the Afghan side of the border, none are yet operating on the Pakistan side despite a pledge in 2009 from Pakistan to do so.

The report also painted a grim portrait of Pakistan’s financial condition.

“As a result of political gridlock, the government continues to be unable to develop consensus on difficult economic and fiscal reforms that are urgently required, including systemic tax reform,” the report said.

“The deterioration of Pakistan’s economy and slow progress on economic reforms poses the greatest threat to Pakistan’s stability over the medium term,” it added.

Independent experts on Pakistan as well as Congressional aides said that the report’s assessment was more critical of Pakistan’s counterinsurgency abilities than analyses in two earlier reports, which the administration sends to Congress every six months.

“It’s pretty tough,” said one Senate staff member who read the report. “It does sound like an expression of frustration that goes beyond previous reports.”

“This particular snapshot wraps up challenges that we’ve talked about piecemeal over several months,” said an administration official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the report.

“In this case, we didn’t see a clear path toward defeating the insurgency in Pakistan,” the official added. (ANI)