As Pakistan “continues to host terrorist groups and remains complicit in their ability to operate”, it is time for the Obama administration to have “an honest conversation about its relationship with Pakistan”, says senior Congresswoman Ileana Ros-lehtinen.
Washington needs to “make the hard choices necessary to ensure Pakistan’s activities are not working against US interests”, Ros-lehtinen said, convening a joint hearing next week on the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the backdrop of withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
Noting that the next few months are pivotal for the future of Afghanistan’s stability, Ros-lehtinen, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, said the United States “cannot afford to make the same mistakes we did in Iraq by not leaving behind a sufficient US presence” to safeguard the gains achieved.
“As we’re seeing with the rise of ISIl in Iraq, our hasty withdrawal created a power vacuum that allowed the terror group to grow,” the Republican lawmaker from Florida said, stressing: “The stakes are even higher in Afghanistan with the Taliban eager to reclaim lost territory and establish another safe haven for terrorists to thrive.”
Congressman Steve Chabot, who heads the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, has also spoken of the many challenges that remain in Afghanistan, including political and economic instability and an extensive Taliban threat. “This is further exacerbated by its neighbour, Pakistan, which continues to play host to Islamist extremism and militancy groups who are given support inside Pakistan’s borders,” Chabot has commented, adding: “Pakistan’s role in combating these groups and stabilising Afghanistan, however, is incredibly important, but due to its limited capacity, rampant corruption, and divergent interests, there is serious cause for concern.”
He believes the joint hearing of the two panels, set for December 10, will provide “a critical opportunity to evaluate ongoing challenges confronting the US-Pakistan relationship, and how the (Obama) administration will address these concerns as we look toward a new post-2014 environment”. The State Department, meanwhile, has strongly condemned Friday’s terrorist attacks in Kashmir ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally.