There had been initial hope that the elimination of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a drone strike in August would be a major blow to the organization. However, the recent spate of terrorist attacks, including an unprecedented 20-hour hostage stand-off at Pakistan’s military headquarters, demonstrates the Pakistani Taliban is still capable of wreaking havoc in the country.
Patience as Policy?
Given the enormous challenges Pakistan faces, it’s difficult to assess how far and how fast the United States should be pushing Islamabad to take on the various militant groups threatening both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Years of support from the Pakistani security establishment to groups that attack India and Afghanistan seem to have compromised the military in many ways and many now question whether the military is capable of remaining unified as an institution as it takes on its former proxies.
Some US officials argue that we must accept a certain amount of ambiguity in the Pakistan military’s attitudes and actions toward militancy since the links between the security services and militant groups have been built up over a period of several years. They say it would be impossible to break those links over night. But the Obama administration must distinguish between Pakistani strategy and a genuine struggle to dismantle the various militant groups. The US should not countenance Pakistani leaders using such excuses to explain why they aren’t cracking down more consistently on terrorism, when we assess the real reason is because they view these terrorist groups as supporting their national security interests.
There are many policies the US can pursue that can support and encourage Pakistan in its transition from tolerating to fighting the various militant groups on its territory.
First, the United States should continue to support Pakistan with its military operations in the tribal border areas and in developing hold and build strategies that establish government writ in the region and eventually bring reform that incorporates the areas into the larger Pakistani political framework.
Second, the US needs to convince Pakistan that cases against terrorists who attack India should be treated no differently than cases against terrorists who act in other parts of the world. By treating terrorists focused on India with kid gloves, Islamabad has created a permissive environment for terrorists to operate more generally, especially since many of the various terrorist groups share a pan-Islamist ideology and provide each other with tactical cooperation and logistical support.
Third, we should work with Pakistani civilian leaders to build a consensus within Pakistan against extremist messages and ideologies that foster terrorism. The U.S. can provide support for interfaith dialogue and activities in Pakistan that promote religious pluralism and empower mainstream religious leaders to actively engage and challenge radical interpretations of the religion of Islam. Secretary Clinton’s visit to a Sufi shrine in Islamabad was symbolically important because most Pakistanis adhere to the Barevli School of Islamic thought, which draws on Sufi traditions of religious tolerance and a deeply spiritual form of Islam. Her visit was a reminder that the extremists conducting attacks in Pakistan are seeking to impose a way of life on Pakistanis that is alien to their own traditions of Islam and aspirations toward constitutional democracy.
Lastly, an essential part of stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan involves encouraging Indian and Pakistani officials to develop a different security paradigm for the region that is based on regional economic integration and trade. This new paradigm would allow them to focus on containing dangerous non-state actors that threaten stability in all three countries.
President Obama revealed that he understands the conundrum of South Asia when he said he wouldn’t seek to directly mediate the Indo-Pakistani dispute but would make efforts to help both countries feel secure. Improving a country’s sense of security may seem like a Herculean task, but when it comes to Pakistan, Washington simply has no other choice.
Lisa Curtis is a senior research fellow with the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation in Washington DC
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