World must crack down on havens of terrorists
US President Barack Obama's comments on terrorism and global security, made during the course of his annual State of the Union address on Wednesday, hit the nail on the head. Offering a long-term perspective in what was his last such address, he rightly noted that even if America or the world were to annihilate the immediate sources of terror, such as the Islamic State or the Al Qaeda, there will still be instability in different parts of the world, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as, “some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict…” Now, Pakistan is already a safe haven for terror groups and acknowledged as the world's terror sweatshop — and Washington, DC, should be acutely aware of the fact. After all, it was in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad that American soldiers finally found and neutralised the world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin laden. Today, another wanted terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million American bounty on his head, roams free in the streets of Pakistan. A third, Dawood Ibrahim, who is on the Interpol's wanted list, is also known to be living in Pakistan for decades. This list, highlighting Pakistani perfidy, can go on — in fact, just hours before the President made his speech, the police chief of Afghanistan's Balkh Province said that last week's attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif was carried out by Pakistan Army forces; and hours after the speech, on Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Pakistani and Indian consulates in Jalalabad. The question is: When will America do something about thisIJ President Obama assures his fellow lawmakers that American is still the only superpower, that in tough times the world does not look to a Beijing or a Moscow for leadership but turns to Washington. Yet, when it comes to the issue of Pakistan-originated terrorism, the US has fallen back — while much of the world has isolated Pakistan, the US continues to prop it up with billions of dollars in aid, which are, in turn, used to target Indian and also American interests, commonly in Afghanistan. Mr Obama says that “protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks” is the Government's “priority number one”. Yet, it is unclear how this will work, especially when America counts terror haven Pakistan as its close ally in the fight against terror.
On a related noted, Mr Obama's comment that world today is “threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states” deserves attention. Here too, the President's assessment cannot be faulted, but doubts remain over how it will be reflected in American foreign policy. Take Pakistan as an example: So broken is it that these days, even its all powerful military doesn't have full power over all elements. Yet, Washington continues to provide it external support to maintain the status quo. In West Asia, where tenuous socio-political pacts held together a fragile peace, the US has repeatedly made matters worse by meddling in domestic affairs. Its direct interventions in Iraq, libya and Syria, its indirect manipulation of the Governments in Cairo and Sana'a — all in the name of brokering a “lasting peace” — have littered the region with failed states.