Pakistan likely to become more Islamist, anti-U.S in coming years: Washington Post report
By ANITuesday, January 12, 2010
WASHINGTON - Pakistan is expected to become a more Islamist and an increasingly anti-American country in the coming years, making it difficult for the Obama administration’s efforts to win its support against Islamist militants, a report published in the Washington Post said.
Jonathan Paris, who produced the report after studying Pakistan over a one-to-three year time horizon, also ruled out the possibility of a Taliban takeover.
“Rather than an Islamist takeover, you should look at a subtle power shift from a secular pro-Western society to an Islamist anti-American one,” The Washington Post quoted Paris, as saying.
Paris also forecasts that Pakistan slipping away from the West at a time when the US and the rest of the countries fighting in Afghanistan needs its support.
“U.S. and UK leverage over Pakistan is not growing. It is decreasing. Pakistani society is moving toward anti-Americanism and toward more Sharia law,” he said.
The report further said that the expanding influence of Islamist political parties and militant groups in its Punjab province will slowly transform the country by exploiting local grievances.
“The danger for the army, and for Pakistan generally, is not Talibanization, but Illumination from Punjab-based militants and their allies,” it said. (ANI)
