Pakistan: America's Worst Ally
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Pakistan: America's Worst Ally

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Pakistan: America's Worst Ally
Posted GMT 5-9-2011 16:56:31
After receiving $20 billion in U.S. aid over the past decade, Pakistan is unmistakably America's worst "ally," having committed the
ultimate betrayal: Hiding Osama Bin Laden. Now, Pakistan is angrily protesting the raid that killed him, refusing to give access to 11 of
those arrested in his compound and is supporting terrorists likely to try to avenge his death. Pakistan is not an ally worth defending as
President Obama did in his address to the country; it is an enemy worth punishing.
It is inconceivable that the Pakistani government did not know of Bin Laden's presence at the Abbottabad compound that was obviously
designed to hide someone of enormous importance. It is now known that Bin Laden's next-door neighbor, living only 80 yards away, was
Major Amir Aziz, a senior army officer. The country's premier military academy is about a mile away, which General Petraeus visited in
February of last year. Many retired intelligence and military personnel live in the affluent city and it is only an hour away from Islamabad.
The Pakistani government is reacting to the exposure of its guilt by bashing the raid, with its officials describing it as "cold-blooded." The
upper house of its parliament is accusing the U.S. of violating the country's sovereignty and the government is threatening "disastrous
consequences" if there are any more unilateral raids. The army has announced that it will reduce the number of U.S. troops in the country
to "minimum essential" levels and the Army Chief of Staff said there will be a "review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with
the United States" if another raid is carried out. Pakistan may also forbid future drone strikes, as it was pushing for an end to them shortly
before Bin Laden was killed.
President Obama's announcement that Bin Laden had been killed was designed to protect relations with Pakistan from the inevitable
outrage.
"It's important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound where he was
hiding. Indeed, Bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people…it is essential
that Pakistan continues to join us in the fight against Al-Qaeda and its affiliates," Obama told the nation.
Senator John Kerry does not downplay Pakistan's treachery but cautions against jeopardizing the relationship. Senator Richard Lugar has
not shied away from pointing his finger at the Pakistani government but likewise said, "Distancing ourselves from Pakistan would be
unwise and extremely dangerous."
It is true that Pakistan's limited cooperation has been critical to the prosecution of the War on Terror. More than two-thirds of the killings
and arrests of Al-Qaeda members have occurred on Pakistani soil. However, there is a clear pattern of the highest terrorists living in
comfortable areas under the control of the Pakistani government, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Ramzi
Binalshibh, called the "20th hijacker." As Richard Miniter writes, "Bin Laden's mansion-hideout in Pakistan was not the exception, but the
rule."
No amount of limited cooperation can make up for the fact that Pakistan is guilty of the greatest sin of hiding Bin Laden; an offense that
was the primary reason for the U.S. military's overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Furthermore, Pakistan will not give the
U.S. access to 11 of those arrested from Bin Laden's compound and is threatening to become even less cooperative in the fight against
terrorism. The Pakistani government is also sponsoring radical Islamic terrorists including the Taliban that are battling U.S. soldiers in
Afghanistan and will seek to carry out retaliation for Bin Laden's death.
A September 2007 government document listed Pakistan's ISI intelligence service as one of 65 "terrorist and terrorist supporting entities."
The ISI was named alongside Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet, there is an eagerness to preserve the relationship with
the government that is in charge of the ISI. U.S. intelligence has concluded that the ISI gives the Taliban "strategic planning guidance"
and its S-Wing directly supports the Taliban's Shura Council in Quetta, the Haqqani network and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; all forces actively
sponsoring terrorism and killing American soldiers. The director of the ISI from 1987 to 1989, Hamid Gul, is a close friend of these three
groups and others including Al-Qaeda.
A British think-tank determined that "There is thus a strong case that the ISI orchestrates, sustains and shapes the overall [Taliban]
insurgent campaign" and in the words of the author, it is "official ISI policy" that is approved of by the top government officials. Up to 7 of
Assyrian International News Agency
www.aina.org/news/2011059115631.htm
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