A group of South Asia experts from leading American think tanks has called upon the Trump administration to put in place a muscular policy that holds Pakistan accountable for its continued pursuit of policies that help perpetuate terrorism in the region, notably India and Afghanistan.
In their report, titled “A New US Approach to Pakistan: Enforcing Aid Conditions without Cutting Ties”, the experts make the case for Washington levying costs on Islamabad for continuing with such policies. It also wants the US to “focus on diplomatically isolating Pakistan over its continued support to terrorist groups that attack India and have connections to international terrorism”.
“Pakistani military leaders continue to support terrorist groups that attack India in an effort to keep it off balance and to draw international mediation into the dispute with India over Kashmir”, the report notes but it cautions the Trump administration against trying to get involved in what is essentially a bilateral dispute between India and Pakistan.
Co-authored by lisa Curtis of The Heritage Foundation and former Pakistan envoy Husain Haqqani, now with The Hudson Institute, on behalf of 10 experts from different think tanks, the report assails Washington for having given Pakistan till now a pass on its support for terrorist groups, including the ones used against India.
“The US should no longer settle for Pakistan’s excuses for delaying a full-throttle crackdown on these terrorist groups and should instead hold Pakistan accountable for the activities of all terrorist groups on its soil,” the report says, while noting that Washington “squandered a valuable opportunity in the aftermath of 9/11 and the 2001-2002 India-Pakistani military crisis to alter the Pakistani military’s fundamental calculations on the use of terrorism for foreign policy ends”.
In the name of pursuing an “even-handed” South Asia policy, the US should no longer sacrifice its anti-terrorism principles, the report says and urges American officials to “break the habit of trying to balance policies toward India and Pakistan”.
“large amounts of economic and military aid have not induced Pakistan to end covert support for the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network, or the myriad India-focused terrorist groups, most notably lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, which Pakistan describes as “freedom fighters”, it notes.
For all their advocacy of a sharper approach to hold Islamabad to account, the experts, however, do not favour the idea of designating Pakistan as a “State sponsor of terrorism” at this point, commenting it would be something “unwise in the first year of a new administration”. Arguing that an early designation will lead to an irreparable breach in the relationship, they want it to be kept as “an option for the longer term”.
At the same time, they want the Trump administration to “state up front that it intends to review the intelligence on Pakistani involvement in supporting terror much more critically than its predecessors”.
While arguing for the quick formulation of a new policy approach vis-à-vis Pakistan, the report speaks of rising India-Pakistan tensions, noting that with both sides having ratcheted up their rhetoric, another major terrorist attack in India conducted by Pakistan-based militants “could precipitate a wider conflict that has the potential of going nuclear”.
“Pakistan’s seemingly unconstrained expansion of its nuclear arsenal, particularly the development of tactical nuclear weapons and extended-range missile systems, also remains a cause for concern, especially with regard to India,” the report noted.
Besides Curtis and Haqqani, signatories to the report that will be formally released on Friday include Bruce Riedel from Brookings Institution, Christine Fair from Georgetown University, Aparna Pande from Hudson Institute and independent consultant Polly Nayak.