WASHINGTON (SW): Sub-committee of the United States Congress on Foreign Affairs has recommended to cut all the aid being given to Pakistan.
According to the PTI report, Congressman William Keating, Pro India member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade argued that there is little reason to believe that Pakistan is going to change its policies of using terrorism as a tool to meet its strategic needs. These remarks were made during a hearing in the house on "Pakistan: A Friend of Foe in the Fight against Terrorism”. Two of the top al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Pakistan, he said. Keating said that the US arms supply to Pakistan is unlikely to help it in the fight against terrorism, but would arm it to be used against India.
"If I may use an undiplomatic term. We have been patsies," said former Bush era top diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad. He told lawmakers along with others how Pakistani leadership had gamed the American system for decades. Bill Roggio, senior editor of the Long War Journal Foundation for Defense of Democracies along with Khalilzad called for cutting aid to Pakistan and put them in the list of State Sponsor of terrorism.
"Pakistanis are very clever in manipulating us. I have to say that," said Khalilzad, sharing his experience of dealing with the Pakistani leadership when he served in various diplomatic position in the Bush era including the US ambassador to Afghanistan and the Permanent Representative of the US to the UN. They reach out to distinguished members of the Congress, they invite them for visits, they charm them, they promise once again and they extract statements from us that are "surprising" in the face of facts, he said.
Asked why the US continued with its same policy, Khalilzad said that Pakistani ability to manipulate by their actions in part had been a factor.
"My experience in dealing with Pakistan is that they will only give you something, when they know that they are going to get something," the former top American diplomat said. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said the Pakistani government and the Saudi Arabia created the Taliban and the Haqqani network.
According to the committee’s chief, Matthew Salmon, all kinds of aids that Pakistan is entertained with by the United States must be stopped if it does not change its policy to ‘favor’ extremists. He alleged that Pakistan was not targeting terrorists that plan attacks in other countries. “Patience (on Pakistan) is growing very thin,” Congressman Matt Salmon, Chairman of the Asia and Pacific subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said.
Congressman William Keating ranking member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade asked panelists if ISIS was a state within a state.
"It is by no means a rogue institution within Pakistan. It does not operate independently or on its own. It is an instrument or an arm of the Pakistani army.
It is implementing the policies of the Pakistani army. It is implementing on behalf of the Pakistani Army," said Tricia Bacon, Assistant Professor, American University. "Roggio said ISI is an arm of the Pakistani military. It is executing the will of the Pakistani military, which is really the Pakistani State. The (elected) government is just the face of the Pakistani military," Bacon said.
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