Washington: Stating that Pakistan has used terror groups in Kashmir
against India, the US has cautioned Islamabad that it is making "a
serious, grievous, strategic error" by supporting these outfits.
Pakistan
believes that it can keep a "wild animal in the backyard" and it will
only go after its neighbour, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
But, there are too many stories where that don’t turn out like that, she said.
"We
are pressing and pushing on every lever that we have in the
relationship, and we have to be effective in trying to achieve our
strategic goal, which is to prevent any attacks against us emanating
from Pakistan, as well as to try to help stabilise Pakistan against
this internal threat, and to create the best possible circumstances for
Afghanistan to be able to have control over its own future," Hillary
said.
"Those are all extremely difficult and we are learning
it, each piece of that, every single day," she said in response to a
question after she delivered her remarks at the "Kumpuris Distinguished
Lecture Series" here.
Hillary said Pakistani people are trying to navigate through a very difficult security environment.
"And
I like to remind myself and my colleagues of that because they have a
great stake in trying to end terrorism against themselves, but they
bring to their fight against terrorism deep concerns about the
relationship with India, about what happens in Afghanistan after US and
coalition troops draw down, what happens in the greater region that
could destabilise them further," she said.
Referring to the
support US provided to these insurgent groups during the fight against
the Russians in Afghanistan, Clinton said when she meets Pakistani
officials, they rightly say, "You’re the ones who told us to cooperate
with these people. You’re the ones who funded them.
"You’re the
ones who equipped them. You’re the ones who used them to bring down the
Soviet Union by driving them out of Afghanistan. And we are now both in
a situation that is highly complex and difficult to extricate ourselves
from."
That is how they see it, she noted. "They also have used
groups in the past to support their ongoing conflict with India over
Kashmir. And when I became Secretary of State, they were trying to
basically appease the Pakistani Taliban who were attacking them. So
they were trying to draw a distinction between the good terrorists and
the bad terrorists, because we had funded the good terrorists
together."
"So they were dealing with this network of terrorism
that had been better organised and directed because of al Qaeda, which
brought a lot more funding into the border area between Afghanistan and
Pakistan and much more of a sense of mission, because (Osama) bin Laden
and those who worked with him had a very highly developed idea about
how to inflict damage on the United States and others," Hillary said.
So,
one of the US’ first rounds of discussions with the Pakistanis was how
it was not in their interest to permit terrorists to take over
territory, something they thought would appease them, which obviously
did not and could not, she said. "So they began moving troops off their
Indian border.
They began going after the Pakistani Taliban."
"So
I think it’s important that we appreciate their perspective about where
we both are right now. That in no way excuses the fact that they are
making a serious, grievous, strategic error supporting these groups,
because you think that you can keep a wild animal in the backyard and
it will only go after your neighbour? We have too many stories where
that don’t turn out like that," Hillary said. Online
