Naser Koshan
STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM OF PAKISTAN
The only state that officially sponsors global terrorism is indeed Pakistan. The military and the Inter Service Intelligence of this country have been the biggest sympathizer and supporter of the insurgent movements both in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Name the top terrorist groups enlisted in the black list are either formed or sheltered by the government of Pakistan including the Haqani network, Taliban, Al Qaeda leadership, Lashkare Taiba, Jaishul Mohammad and Lashkare Ansar mainly focusing in destabilizing Afghanistan and India. With no offence to the people of Pakistan, the Pakistani government has always played a double faced policy in regard with the circumstances in Afghanistan.
On one hand, this country has hugely been benefited with billions of dollars by the U.S. government to fight against terrorism in its territory while on the other hand, the military establishment of Pakistan has fed and formed terrorist groups to fight against the coalition forces in Afghanistan and possibly prolong the hated war to get further assistance and utterly spend on its army’s equipment and capabilities to be on alert for a possible threat from their eastern mighty neighbor India. Luckily, the U.S. Obama administration has realized that Pakistan is indeed playing both sides and has never been a trustable ally and partner against the global terrorism and as president Obama explicitly announced that the time for blank check to Pakistan has ended and unless they take more pragmatic actions in regards with targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders resident in Pakistan, there will no further assistance package to the military institutions of this country.
During a visit to Pakistan, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen pointed to ISI's links with one such group, the Haqani network. The May 1, 2011, killing of America's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani military town not far from Islamabad raised new questions over army and ISI support for the al-Qaeda leader and the legitimacy of their counterterrorism efforts. Pakistan's government has repeatedly denied allegations of supporting terrorism, training Taliban insurgents and equipping them to sabotage the efforts made in peace building in Afghanistan, but you can never hide the sun with two fingers.
It’s never too late for the NATO and coalition forces engaged in the Afghan war to differentiate between the victims and the supporter of terrorism and decide to target the whereabouts in tribal areas of Pakistan noticeably housing a huge number of extremist madrasas acting as a producing machine in keeping the war going and training terrorists for the so called holy war against the west mainly the U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
No doubt, in the last 10 years the coalition forces along with the Afghan army have achieved tremendous success in capturing and killing enemy fighters, but so far no concrete attention has been paid in spreading the battle against terrorism beyond the borders of Afghanistan which is indeed the safe haven for terrorists. The initiative of drone attacks targeting militants in these particular areas have been very helpful and plausible and have created a tremendous fear among the leadership of these terrorist groups’ to hide or move out to safer spots within Pakistan and to the extent possible it should be further enhanced. At last, I would like to say that If we are to win the war in Afghanistan and force the insurgents to lay down their weapons and accept the Afghan constitution and join the peace process, the international community must put further restriction on core elements of these groups in Pakistan so that to dry out their financial resources and break their spinal cord, meanwhile urging Pakistan to cooperate honestly in this regard.
Author: Naser Koshan
Washington, U.S.
August 2011
