Pak won’t alter its ‘double game’ on terror even after 2bn ‘conditional’ aid by US: Expert

WASHINGTON - The two billion-dollar military aid to Pakistan announced by the United States during their strategic talks comes with a privately issued warning- that it risks losing this and other American aid if it does not adopt a more aggressive stance toward militants.

But some regional experts say that despite whatever tough words the US had for the Pakistanis in private, prospects for a radically different approach from Pakistan toward the extremists groups are not good, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

“I don’t perceive Pakistan changing its objectives, and that’s really the core issue here,” said Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Cato Institute in Washington.

“Since 9/11 we have pushed, prodded, and threatened … and it’s clear to me that Pakistan is not going to alter its internal politics or shift its security policies no matter how much aid the US gives,” she added.

Although Pakistan has undertaken offensives into some militant strongholds, it has not launched operations in North Waziristan, and has left unscathed other groups the US is focused on, Innocent noted.

Those groups include the Haqqani network- that some US officials now consider the most powerful Taliban-affiliated organization in Pakistan, the Quetta Shura- the Afghan Taliban leadership located in Pakistan since being ousted from Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda.

During the three days of meetings, while Pakistani officials emphasized their country’s role as a key partner for Washington in the international battle with extremism, they were at the same time adamant that Pakistan will do things its way, and not bow to American interests, the website said.

The US pledge of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar military aid package, which is subject to Congressional approval, appears to be designed to answer Pakistan’s military and civilian government’s complaint that the country does not have the money or military equipment for launching large-scale offensives against militant havens, it said.

But the US Congress has become increasingly impatient with Pakistan’s reluctance to go after groups like Al Qaeda, leading some analysts to anticipate resistance to another aid package to Pakistan, it added.

“This will turn into a very, very messy fight in Congress,” said Innocent, adding, “After a decade, there is just a lot of frustration with the effort Pakistan has put forward.” (ANI)