Coming Up Short on Pakistan [interview], Council on Foreign Relations, 14 December 2009
EXCERPT: "President Barack Obama's strategy approving a U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan called success there 'inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan.' But the U.S.-Pakistan relationship is riddled with problems. U.S. officials are concerned about terrorist safe havens in Pakistan's border areas, and there are reports that the United States may expand its covert airstrikes in the border region. In Pakistan, there are concerns about U.S. plans to withdraw from the region starting in 2011. Five independent Pakistani experts assess Obama's strategy, explore the largely negative response in Pakistan, and discuss the military and political pitfalls of the plan. For journalist and author Ahmed Rashid and Asia Society fellow Hassan Abbas, Obama's plan fails to address the question of India, Pakistan's biggest security concern. Former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Maleeha Lodhi warns that military escalation--particularly the expansion of aerial strikes in Pakistan--could inflame an already fragile security situation. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political analyst, and Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, cite concerns in Islamabad that there is no plan for Pakistan after U.S. forces quit Afghanistan."
Read the full set of interviews.
Related articles:
Obama: Success of strategy evident in a year, The Associated Press, 14 December 2009
An interview with Haider Mullick, The Diplomat, 15 December 2009
US pressures Pakistan to target Afghan enclaves, The Wall Street Journal, 15 December 2009
Rebuffing US, Pakistan balks at crackdown, The New York Times, 14 December 2009
Top US commanders discuss strategy with Afghan and Pakistani leaders, VOA News, 14 December 2009
Tete a tete with Hillary Clinton [interview, blog], Foreign Policy // The AfPak Channel, 14 December 2009
Related posts:
US coordinating with Pakistan on troop surge, 11 December 2009
AfPak policy alone not a solution to Pakistan's problems: Report, 10 December 2009
Is there a new Pakistan policy or not?, 7 December 2009
Obama's speech lays ground for expansion in Pakistan, 2 December 2009
US-Pakistan strategic partnership expanded, 30 November 2009
