[Marxism] Obama escalates pressure on Pakistan

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/23/AR2009012304189.html
2 U.S. Airstrikes Offer a Concrete Sign of Obama's Pakistan Policy

By R. Jeffrey Smith, Candace Rondeaux and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 24, 2009; A01

Two remote U.S. missile strikes that killed at least 20 people at 
suspected terrorist hideouts in northwestern Pakistan yesterday offered 
the first tangible sign of President Obama's commitment to sustained 
military pressure on the terrorist groups there, even though Pakistanis 
broadly oppose such unilateral U.S. actions.

The shaky Pakistani government of Asif Ali Zardari has expressed hopes 
for warm relations with Obama, but members of Obama's new national 
security team have already telegraphed their intention to make firmer 
demands of Islamabad than the Bush administration, and to back up those 
demands with a threatened curtailment of the plentiful military aid that 
has been at the heart of U.S.-Pakistani ties for the past three decades.

The separate strikes on two compounds, coming three hours apart and 
involving five missiles fired from Afghanistan-based Predator drone 
aircraft, were the first high-profile hostile military actions taken 
under Obama's four-day-old presidency. A Pakistani security official 
said in Islamabad that the strikes appeared to have killed at least 10 
insurgents, including five foreign nationals and possibly even "a 
high-value target" such as a senior al-Qaeda or Taliban official.

It remained unclear yesterday whether Obama personally authorized the 
strike or was involved in its final planning, but military officials 
have previously said the White House is routinely briefed about such 
attacks in advance.

At his daily White House briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs declined 
to answer questions about the strikes, saying, "I'm not going to get 
into these matters." Obama convened his first National Security Council 
meeting on Pakistan and Afghanistan yesterday afternoon, after the strike.

The Pakistani government, which has loudly protested some earlier 
strikes, was quiet yesterday. In September, U.S. and Pakistani officials 
reached a tacit agreement to allow such attacks to continue without 
Pakistani involvement, according to senior officials in both countries.

But some Pakistanis have said they expect a possibly bumpy diplomatic 
stretch ahead.

"Pakistan hopes that Obama will be more patient while dealing with 
Pakistan," Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, said in 
an interview Wednesday with Pakistan's Geo television network. "We will 
review all options if Obama does not adopt a positive policy towards 
us." He urged Obama to "hear us out."

At least 132 people have been killed in 38 suspected U.S. missile 
strikes inside Pakistan since August, all conducted by the CIA, in a 
ramped-up effort by the outgoing Bush administration.

Obama's August 2007 statement -- that he favored taking direct action in 
Pakistan against potential threats to U.S. security if Pakistani 
security forces do not act -- made him less popular in Pakistan than in 
any other Muslim nation polled before the election.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated during her Senate 
confirmation hearing that the new administration will not relent in 
holding Pakistan to account for any shortfalls in the continuing battle 
against extremists.

Linking Pakistan with neighboring Afghanistan "on the front line of our 
global counterterrorism efforts," Clinton told the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee that "we will use all the elements of our powers -- 
diplomacy, development and defense -- to work with those . . . who want 
to root out al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other violent extremists." She 
also said those in Pakistan who do not join the effort will pay a price, 
adding a distinctly new element to the long-standing U.S. effort to lure 
Pakistan closer to the West.

In blunt terms in her written answers to the committee's questions, 
Clinton pledged that Washington will "condition" future U.S. military 
aid on Pakistan's efforts to close down terrorist training camps and 
evict foreign fighters. She also demanded that Pakistan "prevent" the 
continued use of its historically lawless northern territories as a 
sanctuary by either the Taliban or al-Qaeda. And she promised that 
Washington would provide all the support Pakistan needs if it 
specifically goes after targets such as Osama bin Laden, who is believed 
to be using Pakistani mountains as a hideout.

At the same time, Clinton pledged to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan, 
long dwarfed by the more than $6 billion funneled to Pakistani military 
forces under President George W. Bush through the Pentagon's 
counterterrorism office in Islamabad.

"The conditioning of military aid is substantially different," as is the 
planned boost of economic aid, said Daniel Markey, a Council on Foreign 
Relations senior fellow who handled South Asian matters on the State 
Department's policy planning staff from 2003 to 2007.

Bush's focus on military aid to a Pakistani government that was led by 
an army general until August eventually drew complaints in both 
countries that much of the funding was spent without accountability or, 
instead of being used to root out terrorists, was diverted to forces 
intended for a potential conflict with India.

A study in 2007 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies 
reported that economic, humanitarian and development assistance under 
Bush amounted to no more than a quarter of all aid, less than in most 
countries.

The criticism helped provoke a group of senators who now have powerful 
new roles -- Joseph R. Biden Jr., Clinton and Obama -- to co-sponsor 
legislation last July requiring that more aid be targeted at political 
pluralism, the rule of law, human and civil rights, and schools, public 
health and agriculture.

It also would have allowed U.S. weapons sales and other military aid 
only if the secretary of state certified that Pakistani military forces 
were making "concerted efforts" to undermine al-Qaeda and the Taliban. 
In her confirmation statement, Clinton reiterated her support for such a 
legislative restructuring of the aid program, while reaffirming that she 
opposed any "blank check."

Some Pakistanis have been encouraged by indications that Obama intends 
to increase aid to the impoverished country, said Shuja Nawaz, a 
Pakistani who directs the South Asia Center of the Washington-based 
Atlantic Council of the United States. Nawaz said Pakistanis may be 
willing to overlook an occasional missile lobbed at foreign terrorists 
if Obama makes a sincere attempt to improve conditions in Pakistan.

"He can't just focus on military achievements; he has to win over the 
people," Nawaz said. "Relying on military strikes will not do the 
trick." Attaching conditions to the aid is wise, Nawaz said, because 
"people are more cognizant of the need for accountability -- for 'tough 
love.' "

Rondeaux reported from Islamabad. Special correspondent Haq Nawaz Khan 
in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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