US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter has said that the cooperation between Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is still sustained.
Addressing Boston-based university Harvard Kennedy School, he said
the Pakistani politicians don’t want to the US soldiers to go back home,
adding the US put on hold the military aid based on the withdrawal of
their troops,
The ties among between the armies of the two countries are not good, he added.
Ambassador Munter said Pakistani government is well abreast of the
fast that both Washington and Islamabad are equal stakeholders in the
war on terror; but, this cooperation could get affected as
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja
Pasha steps down from his office.
The US envoy Munter advised the US leadership to employ a policy of
minimum interference and maximum decency over Pakistan’s affairs, adding
his country should restrain the use of threats to the least.
The bilateral US-Pakistan ties, he continued, were harmed over
Raymond Davis issue and Pakistan took the US operation against Osama Bin
Laden as affront to it.
Cameron Munter said the United States promised too much to Pakistan
while discussing foreign relations, adding that he endured as the
ambassador to Pakistan through major crises.
“We over-promised, not because we meant to over-promise,” Munter
said, “but because there was so much of an effort to build a strategic
relationship, from issues like water to the role of women in the
country.”
Munter said he guided Pakistan during crises and “a series of
disasters,” including the capture of Osama bin Laden and the Afghan war
end game, all while leading a 2,500-employee embassy.
There was a contradiction, he said, of America’s long-term and short-term goals.
“In the long-term we have a commitment to stability and parallel processes to efforts in Pakistan,” Munter said, “but on the short-term we focus on counter-terrorism.”
“In the long-term we have a commitment to stability and parallel processes to efforts in Pakistan,” Munter said, “but on the short-term we focus on counter-terrorism.”
It is important to understand Pakistani society is distinguishable from the Pakistani state, Munter said.
“Pakistani society is like a ship that sometimes can’t go forward and
it can’t go backward, but it can’t sink,” Munter said. “It is
resilient.”
Munter also talked about the intelligence aspect of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.
Munter also talked about the intelligence aspect of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.
He said the “military-military relationship has taken a beating,”
referring to Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s
dismissal of American personnel.
Munter said when military aid was limited because of the incident he
told Kayani “when trainers go, equipment has to go to. If you get rid of
the boys, then you have to get rid of the toys. He said, ‘I
understand.’”
Deep down, he said, Pakistani politicians do not want Americans to go
away. “What they want is partnership and a better sense of respect,
“Munter said. “We need to expand to get them out of a certain narrative
they have created about the U.S. We have to be less arrogant.” Munter
said it was imprudent to ask if Pakistan loves America or vice versa.
“Talk about concrete things we can do together,” Munter said. “Like
the American philosopher Tina Turner asked, ‘What’s love got to do with
it?’” SANA
