BY MIRANDA HUSAIN
The misunderstood and much maligned Kerry-Lugar bill ties aid to Pakistan to several important milestones that jibe with the demands enshrined in the Charter of Democracy pact of 2006 between Bhutto and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Besides making aid subject to there being democracy in Pakistan, the U.S. secretary of state must each year certify to Congress that Pakistan’s Army and intelligence agencies are subordinate to the civilian government, and that the country is working to further American and global strategic objectives against terrorist groups. Some of these provisions did not sit well with the Army which, in October 2009, issued a press statement expressing concerns about the Kerry-Lugar legislation and its impact on “national security.”
Pakistan’s dance with dictatorships has fueled terrorism, says Mark Siegel of Locke Lord Strategies. “There have been some 30,000 casualties including about 2,200 Pakistani troops killed, the country’s most prominent politician murdered, and a loss of $36 billion to the national economy,” he told NEWSWEEK PAKISTAN. “Two years of democracy can’t undo the damage.” He says Pakistan’s links to terrorist training “are real” referring specifically to the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 and Faisal Shahzad’s attempt to blow up New York City’s Times Square on May 1. Pakistan’s Army also came under media criticism abroad after WikiLeaks released classified U.S. government documents last July alleging the Inter-Services Intelligence agency’s role in undermining war efforts in Afghanistan.
The only way forward in the fight against terror, says lobbyist Siegel, is for the U.S. to continue its support to a democratic Pakistan and for this support to be nonmilitary in nature, as it is in the case of the Kerry-Lugar funds. The Obama aid seeks to redress the past trend of Washington shortsightedly bankrolling Pakistan’s military dictators to achieve its own short-term, geostrategic goals by shifting American taxpayer money to people-oriented projects, including those covering health, education, water, and energy. Significant sums from Kerry-Lugar have recently been rerouted toward flood relief work.For the time being, Zardari’s government may find some comfort in the fact that an outright Army coup or an undemocratically installed interim government of technocrats will not pass the Kerry-Lugar test and would likely jeopardize desperately needed U.S. assistance. But it also needs to address concerns about corruption and incompetence. In her posthumously released book, Reconciliation, Bhutto says that “the outcome of the battle between extremism and moderation in Pakistan” rests “in the choice we make between dictatorship and democracy.” Pakistan, and its allies, need to know they made the right choice. (The End)
.(Courtesy News Week)
The misunderstood and much maligned Kerry-Lugar bill ties aid to Pakistan to several important milestones that jibe with the demands enshrined in the Charter of Democracy pact of 2006 between Bhutto and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Besides making aid subject to there being democracy in Pakistan, the U.S. secretary of state must each year certify to Congress that Pakistan’s Army and intelligence agencies are subordinate to the civilian government, and that the country is working to further American and global strategic objectives against terrorist groups. Some of these provisions did not sit well with the Army which, in October 2009, issued a press statement expressing concerns about the Kerry-Lugar legislation and its impact on “national security.”
Pakistan’s dance with dictatorships has fueled terrorism, says Mark Siegel of Locke Lord Strategies. “There have been some 30,000 casualties including about 2,200 Pakistani troops killed, the country’s most prominent politician murdered, and a loss of $36 billion to the national economy,” he told NEWSWEEK PAKISTAN. “Two years of democracy can’t undo the damage.” He says Pakistan’s links to terrorist training “are real” referring specifically to the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 and Faisal Shahzad’s attempt to blow up New York City’s Times Square on May 1. Pakistan’s Army also came under media criticism abroad after WikiLeaks released classified U.S. government documents last July alleging the Inter-Services Intelligence agency’s role in undermining war efforts in Afghanistan.
The only way forward in the fight against terror, says lobbyist Siegel, is for the U.S. to continue its support to a democratic Pakistan and for this support to be nonmilitary in nature, as it is in the case of the Kerry-Lugar funds. The Obama aid seeks to redress the past trend of Washington shortsightedly bankrolling Pakistan’s military dictators to achieve its own short-term, geostrategic goals by shifting American taxpayer money to people-oriented projects, including those covering health, education, water, and energy. Significant sums from Kerry-Lugar have recently been rerouted toward flood relief work.For the time being, Zardari’s government may find some comfort in the fact that an outright Army coup or an undemocratically installed interim government of technocrats will not pass the Kerry-Lugar test and would likely jeopardize desperately needed U.S. assistance. But it also needs to address concerns about corruption and incompetence. In her posthumously released book, Reconciliation, Bhutto says that “the outcome of the battle between extremism and moderation in Pakistan” rests “in the choice we make between dictatorship and democracy.” Pakistan, and its allies, need to know they made the right choice. (The End)
.(Courtesy News Week)
