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`US-Pak relations under strain` says Expert
Washington, Aug 27: As US President George W Bush prepares for possible meetings with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf during the UN session next month, US relations with Pakistan are under strain because of Musharraf`s failure to end crossborder terrorism against India, according to analyst John E Carbaugh.
Washington, Aug 27: As US President George W Bush prepares for possible meetings with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf during the
UN session next month, US relations with Pakistan are under strain because of Musharraf's failure to end crossborder terrorism against India, according to analyst John E Carbaugh.
"An increasing number of Bush administration officials are pressing for a tougher US stance with Pakistan," Carbaugh says, quoting "sources."
Carbaugh cites the views of many scholars who have expressed concern over pakistani policies.
"Let us remember," writes Selig Harrison, Director of the Asia Progrmame at the Centre for International Policy in Washington, "that Pakistan was the chief political and financial sponsor of the Taliban in Afghanistan from the beginning."
"Without a Taliban regime in Kabul, Afghanitan never would have become a safe haven for al Qaeda. Pakistan was, therefore, more than a little resonsible for September 11.
Even after that attack, Islamabad turned against the Taliban only in response to intense pressure from the US. Pakistani forces were ineffectual in sealing the border with Afghanistan when US troops had Taliban and al Qaeda fighters on the run in late 2001, yet the Musharraf government refused to give the US the right of hot pursit into Pakistani territory. As a result, terrorist units regrouped in Pakistan's border provinces and to this day continue to harass US forces in Afghanistan," says Harrison.
Bureau Report
Carbaugh cites the views of many scholars who have expressed concern over pakistani policies.
"Let us remember," writes Selig Harrison, Director of the Asia Progrmame at the Centre for International Policy in Washington, "that Pakistan was the chief political and financial sponsor of the Taliban in Afghanistan from the beginning."
"Without a Taliban regime in Kabul, Afghanitan never would have become a safe haven for al Qaeda. Pakistan was, therefore, more than a little resonsible for September 11.
Even after that attack, Islamabad turned against the Taliban only in response to intense pressure from the US. Pakistani forces were ineffectual in sealing the border with Afghanistan when US troops had Taliban and al Qaeda fighters on the run in late 2001, yet the Musharraf government refused to give the US the right of hot pursit into Pakistani territory. As a result, terrorist units regrouped in Pakistan's border provinces and to this day continue to harass US forces in Afghanistan," says Harrison.
Bureau Report