America’s Pak problem

American legislators have begun moving on Pakistan-grown terror organisations by seeking to pass a defence policy bill that links military aid to Islamabad to certification by the US secretary of defence to Congress that Pakistan is taking demonstrated action against the Haqqani network. This is, of course, welcome news in India, which has suffered terrorist violence aided and abetted by Pakistan. But geo-political strategic affairs are never simple.

The US House of Representatives has passed the National Defence Authorisation Act which seeks to block $450 million in assistance to Pakistan. Though a Senate panel has approved the blocking of aid, the bill laid in the Senate differs in some respects and reduces the amount to $300 million. The move forward is small: the earlier Senate bill already required certification; the renewed Senate bill requires the defence secretary to appear before Congress and certify that Pakistan is really acting against the Haqqani network. Such efforts have been made in the past when the US has been compelled by its own laws to place such actions above the requirements of diplomacy and strategy. But these have often been stymied by executive action. In this case, the White House has already very clearly stated its objections. Pakistan occupies a geographically strategic area that has since before its birth been an attractive foothold for Western powers looking at Central Asia and Russia.

The US has apparently drawn a new line in the sand, declaring it would carry out strikes against terrorists who operate against American interests while acting as proxies for Pakistan and the ISI. This is an opportunity for India to keep reminding the US, strongly, of what the Pakistan-based Haqqani network has done, and is capable of doing, to American troops in Afghanistan and to stress the dangers New Delhi and the world face.