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American aid for Pak may sour relations with India: US daily
Washington, June 29: The United States` promise of a three billion dollar aid package for Pakistan, which conceded `very little` on its support for cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, might imperil a `promising relationship` with India and hopes of obtaining Indian troops for Iraq stabilisation force, a leading us daily said today.
Washington, June 29: The United States' promise of a three billion dollar aid package for Pakistan, which conceded "very little" on its support for cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, might imperil a "promising relationship" with India and hopes of obtaining Indian troops for Iraq stabilisation force, a leading us daily said today.
Under the title "Fool's Gold in Pakistan," the 'Washington Post's columnist Jim Hoagland said in his assessment of the Camp David summit that President Pervez Musharraf, conceding "very little" on Pakistan's support for cross-border terror, got a promise of economic and military aid on terms that are certain to sour US relations with India.
US President George W Bush "is ready to forgive a lot in the case of Pakistan, where a skillful political alchemist is transforming a record of failure, extremism and betrayal into gold from the us treasury," said Hoagland.
"Musharraf's calculated pushing of the American envelope also imperils what promised to be bush's most innovative and important foreign policy initiative -- the building of a new strategic relationship with democratic India," Hoagland said.
The South Asia expert said Bush promised the aid at the urging of his defence and spy chiefs, who are desperate for whatever cooperation they can "squeeze, cajole or buy" from Pakistan to hunt down al-Qaeda and other terror groups.
"Their needs force Washington to look the other way as Pakistan's Islamic extremists grow more powerful under Musharraf's rule, as cross-border terrorism continues in India -- despite Musharraf's promise to end it 'permanently' -- and as it becomes plain that Musharraf intends to remain President indefinitely," the columnist said.
Bureau Report
US President George W Bush "is ready to forgive a lot in the case of Pakistan, where a skillful political alchemist is transforming a record of failure, extremism and betrayal into gold from the us treasury," said Hoagland.
"Musharraf's calculated pushing of the American envelope also imperils what promised to be bush's most innovative and important foreign policy initiative -- the building of a new strategic relationship with democratic India," Hoagland said.
The South Asia expert said Bush promised the aid at the urging of his defence and spy chiefs, who are desperate for whatever cooperation they can "squeeze, cajole or buy" from Pakistan to hunt down al-Qaeda and other terror groups.
"Their needs force Washington to look the other way as Pakistan's Islamic extremists grow more powerful under Musharraf's rule, as cross-border terrorism continues in India -- despite Musharraf's promise to end it 'permanently' -- and as it becomes plain that Musharraf intends to remain President indefinitely," the columnist said.
Bureau Report