The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Pakistan’s leaders “bluntly” told Afghanistan’s president “to forget about allowing a long-term U.S. military presence in his country,” and urged him instead “to look to Pakistan — and its Chinese ally — for help in striking a peace deal with the Taliban and rebuilding the economy.” According to Afghan officials, at an April 16 meeting in Kabul in which the leaders of Pakistan’s military and intelligence also participated, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Pres. Hamid Karzai that “the Americans had failed them both,” and that it was time for Kabul to choose “alternative allies.” The Pakistani delegation also outlined a number of demands to the Afghan leader. Afghanpaper.com, quoting an unnamed Afghan official, lists Pakistan’s demands as:
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The Afghan government through a traditional Loya Jirga should oppose long-term U.S. bases in Afghanistan. In return, Pakistan will put pressure on the Taliban and other armed opposition to cooperate with the Kabul government.
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The role of the Resistance Front [Northern Alliance] in the government must be weakened.
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There should be a considerable reduction in the presence of India’s political offices in Afghanistan.
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Pakistani Baluchis active inside Afghanistan must be expelled as soon as possible.
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In the traditional Loya Jirga, tribal leaders on the other side of the border [Pashtuns in Pakistan] must also participate.
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The gas pipeline project from Turkmenistan should only include Afghanistan and Pakistan; India must be excluded.
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Pakistan should be given a role in extraction of mines and economic projects in Afghanistan.
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In Afghanistan’s future government, members of Jalaluddin Haqqani’s group should be given a role.
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Pakistan’s opinion should be considered in the appointment of the ministers of defense and interior as well as the chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security.
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In the traditional Loya Jirga, the Durand Line should be officially recognized.
The response from the Obama administration was surprisingly positive. “Although the Pakistanis did caution the Afghans not to become too dependent on the Americans,” the Washington Post quoted one U.S. official as saying, “they were reaching out to the Karzai government in a way that suggested they thought the time was right to move toward some kind of political settlement,” referring to increased efforts to reconcile with the Taliban. “The good news,” the official added, “is that I think that there’s some prospect that Afghanistan will become the common ground on which the U.S. and Pakistan” can solidify their relationship.
Alas, this is a pipe dream. The Pakistani demands only suggest that Islamabad is moving even further away from partnership with Washington. The arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, efforts to stop U.S. drone attacks against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, continued support to terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e Taiba and the Haqqani Network, and Islamabad’s renewed efforts to make deals with the Pakistani Taliban are clear signals that the Pakistani government has no intention to find a “common ground” with the U.S. in the war on terrorism. As Washington is planning to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan this summer, Pakistani officials are stepping up efforts to secure their own interests in the region at the expense of U.S. national-security interests.
— Ahmad Majidyar is a senior research associate at the American Enterprise Institute.