US policy towards Pakistan as its ally in war on terror since 9/11 has become so unpredictable that it appears at times to edge on confusion. Now, it looks like the two strong US allies in the ‘War on Terror,’ (Pakistan and Afghanistan) are pointing their guns towards each other.
The Afghan soldiers and US troops based in Afghanistan attacked a joint post of the Pakistan Army and paramilitary Frontier Corps at Lowara Mandi in North Waziristan on the Pak-Afghan border while US gunship helicopters were noticed violating Pakistan’s airspace during the past two days.
US is trapped between a rock and a hard place in the region where Islamic fanaticism has entered an age of unprecedented insecurity and panic. It is against this backdrop that one would have to evaluate the shift in nuance on the Afghan issue made by US. This macho pumping by Americans could lead to a disastrous crash while handling terrorism that still needs monarchies and military dictatorships, backed with devastating force.
* Pakistan’s cooperation remains the key in Washington’s efforts to eliminate Taliban in Afghanistan and maintaining an extremely shaky Hamid Karzai’s regime.
* Ignoring Pakistan would mean the socio-political takeover by a Taliban-like orthodox Islamic militia that will give momentum to the tense Taliban.
If war on terror means invasion, occupation, and humiliation; inevitably, the United States is both the creator and victim of ‘War on Terror.’
