Came a-knockin' kind of late, didn't I?
"US strategy puts faith in Pakistan’s spies; Plan’s goal is peace talks in Afghanistan Agents have aided militants, officials say" October 31, 2011|By David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, New York Times
WASHINGTON - Just a month after accusing Pakistan’s spy agency of secretly supporting the Haqqani terrorist network, which has mounted attacks on Americans, the Obama administration is now relying on the same intelligence service to help organize and kick-start reconciliation talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.
Related: Haqqani Ha-Ha
It's just not funny anymore.
The revamped approach, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called “Fight, Talk, Build’’ during a high-level US delegation’s visit to Kabul and Islamabad this month, combines continued US air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency get them to the negotiating table.
See: Clinton Complains to Pakistan
I've got some of my own for her.
But some elements of the ISI see little advantage in forcing those negotiations, because they see the insurgents as perhaps their best bet for maintaining influence in Afghanistan as the United States reduces its presence there.
Related: Afghanistan After 2014
We are staying for how long?
The strategy is emerging amid an increase in the pace of attacks against Americans in Kabul, including a suicide attack Saturday that killed as many as 10 Americans and in which the Haqqanis are suspected.
It is the latest effort at brokering a deal with militants before the last of 33,000 US “surge’’ troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan by September, and comes as early hopes in the White House about having the outlines of a deal in time for a multinational conference Dec. 5 in Bonn, Germany, have been all but abandoned. But even inside the Obama administration, the initiative has been met with deep skepticism, in part because the Pakistani government has developed its own strategy, one at odds with Clinton’s on several key points. One senior US official summarized the Pakistani position as “Cease-fire, Talk, Wait for the Americans to Leave.’’
In short, the United States is in the position of having to rely heavily on the ISI to help broker a deal with the same group of militants that leaders in Washington say the spy agency is financing and supporting.
So how does the shoe feel on the other foot, CIA?
“The Pakistanis see the contradictions in the American approach,’’ said Shamila N. Chaudhary, a former top Obama White House aide on Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The big question for the administration is, ‘What can the Pakistanis actually deliver?’ Pakistan is holding its cards very closely.’’
Yesterday, US intelligence officials deepened an investigation into what role, if any, the Haqqani network played in the bombing in Kabul on Saturday. A suicide car bomb smashed into an armored bus full of troops, killing 13 foreigners, including up to 10 Americans soldiers and civilian contractors.
The Taliban immediately took credit for the bombing, but Afghan and US officials suspect that the bombing was the work of the Haqqani faction, and that the message the Haqqanis are sending is that they are able to kill foreign troops.
Several current and former US officials say the United States has tried a bomb-them-to-the-bargaining-table approach before. In the 1990s, it helped drive Serbian leaders to peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, but it has resulted in little so far with the Afghan Taliban.
“I don’t think anyone expects Secretary Clinton’s visit to produce reconciliation,’’ said Bruce O. Riedel, a former CIA officer and the author of “Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad.’’ Riedel, who advocates a policy of containment in Pakistan, added, “The deterioration of US-Pakistan relations is likely to continue.’’
Former CIA, huh? That's who the newspaper turns to for an expert source?
Senior Pakistani officials say they are confused by a lack of clarity in the administration’s long-term goals in Afghanistan, and are working with US officials to hammer out specific plans after Clinton’s visit. As an incentive, the United States has offered Pakistan a prominent role in reconciliation talks. But US officials have warned that they will take unilateral action if negotiations fail.
Several administration officials said they considered Clinton’s trip to Kabul and Islamabad, from Oct. 19 to 21, a success largely because it had happened at all....
That's a pretty low bar, isn't it?
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