ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has no further
space to receive US pressure for any
new operation in the tribal areas as
its geo-strategic conditions doesn’t
allow it to do more, said well-known
defence analyst Brigadier (Retd)Mehmood
Shah.
Talking
to Online on Monday, Brigadier Mehmood Shah, also former security chief
of FATA, said that Pakistani military was stretched inside the country
and it could not ignore its eastern border.
“Pakistan wanted to
withdraw its forces from Dir and Swat but attacks from Afghanistan’s
border side delayed the plan,” he said, adding that any new adventure
for Pakistan was not possible from defence point of view as it had to
keep part of its force as reserve.
The expert further said that
the US had announced its plan of withdrawing forces from Afghanistan
and as stated until 2014 it may complete its process of withdrawal. He
said that the future situation of Afghanistan was difficult to be
visualised at the stage and Pakistan could never ignore the coming
days.
Shah was of the view that the Afghanistan situation would
only affect Pakistan and, therefore, Pakistan was not in the position
to decide things easily.
“In such a complex situation blaming
or threatening Pakistan is not wisdom, as such a behaviour can only
retrain relations among Afghanistan, Pakistan, US that are
counterproductive for establishing peace in the region and eradicating
terrorism,” Shah said.
Criticising the US policies for tackling
the issue of insecurity, the analyst said Washington strategy in the
war is wrong from the very beginning as extended talks for peace after
military action was necessary. And “talks are held for ending violence”
and if there is no problem in a situation that dialogue is not needed,
he stressed.
US remain selective in holding talks and it also
want to continue operation along with dialogue and when the opposite
forces clash with them (Americans) then it blames others.
Commenting
on the solution of the issues in the region and Afghanistan, Shah said
that ‘patience’ was needed as far as US, Pakistan, Afghanistan were
concerned and within Afghanistan US must announce that it was ready to
end war if Taliban also did the same.
Both the US and Taliban
are claiming defeat of each other in the war that has been continuing
for more than 10 years, he pointed out.
So US applies its own
conditions and Taliban their own for ending the fight and Washington
wants to hold talks with one group but not with other group of the
militants, he concluded. Online
