SPY EYES

 by MALIK MUHAMMAD ASHRAF

There is a growing feeling in the higher echelons of the US administration, intellectual circles, political elite and media that America’s strategy in Afghanistan has failed and there is an imperative need for another strategic review. Those who subscribe to this view argue that the war in Afghanistan has gone wrong because Pakistan, despite being an ally of the US, has played a double game by extracting billions of dollars from America to fight terrorism and simultaneously maintained its links with the Taliban and tolerated the presence of Al-Qaeda leadership on its soil. They allege that Pakistan is more focused on India than Afghanistan or the threat of terrorism.
According to Arthur Herman, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a former CIA and National Security Council official Bruce Riedel has convinced President Barack Obama that the focus of the war on terror needs to shift from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Herman contended that the irony is that even as Obama was trying to get out of the war in Afghanistan, he might be heading the US into one in Pakistan - a move reminiscent of USA’s strategy in Laos in the 1960s - one of the springboards into the Vietnam quagmire.
An eminent journalist, Bob Woodwards, in his book titled Obama’s Wars also quoted the US President as having said, during his war strategy review, that “we need to make clear to people that the cancer is in Pakistan.” It is feared that the Obama administration, who is facing the increasing political pressure from congressmen to do something and is stuck in a quagmire of its own making might look for a scapegoat - preferably a foreign one - and Pakistan fits the bill. 
Another development that strengthens these fears is an article by Zalmay Khalilzad published in the Washington Times a few days ago, in which he has accused Pakistan of maintaining strong links with the militants and suggested the use of coercive methods, like curbing military assistance, mobilisation coordinated financial pressure against Pakistan through allies and the IMF, expand military operations against insurgents in the country, and accelerate security ties with India as part of the containment regime against Pakistan. Yet, another troubling development is the news story published in the Washington Post in which the US administration, reportedly, has accused the ISI of murdering a Pakistani journalist, Saleem Shahzad. These two media initiatives are connected with each other and could be part of USA’s tactics to prepare ground for the implementation of its contemplated new strategy of shifting the focus of the war towards Pakistan. These are very ominous portents and one finds it hard to take issue with those who believe that the US strategic goals in the region are inimical to our national and security interests. That the US initiative of military incursion into Pakistan could destabilise the country, besides jeopardising the safety of our nuclear assets, ought to be taken seriously.