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Zardari rejects Barack Obama’s Af-Pak strategy

* President tells Financial Times Pakistan, Afghanistan are two distinctly different countries, must not be ‘lumped together’

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari has rejected the Obama administration’s strategy of linking policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in an effort to end a Taliban insurgency and bring stability to the region.

US President Barack Obama earlier this year appointed senior diplomat Richard Holbrooke a special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan in a move aimed at addressing the two states as a single arena of conflict.

“Afghanistan and Pakistan are distinctly different countries, and cannot be lumped together for any reason,” said Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times on the anniversary of his first year in office.

Zardari’s comments reflect Pakistan’s unwillingness to be aligned in a joint policy framework with neighbouring Afghanistan – an approach referred to as ‘Af-Pak’.

Ending the Taliban insurgency on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border is only likely to be achieved by concerted military action by NATO forces fighting in Helmand and Kandahar and the Pakistan Army in Waziristan and other tribal areas along the border. Military experts say Taliban leaders travel across the Durand Line to avoid military pursuit.

Zardari said Holbrooke had brought a “unique focus on relations with Pakistan” and acknowledged the emphasis Obama had put on Pakistan’s economic and energy needs.

Zardari’s appeal for individual, rather than joint, focus comes ahead of a high profile meeting with Obama and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in New York later this month and Hillary Clintton’s visit next month to Islamabad.

At these meetings, Zardari is expected to appeal for more financial assistance, which he says is essential to eliminate terrorism.

“Pakistan does not have the luxury of time. Given the severity of internal security challenge the country is facing, it is critical that the economy is provided a strong stimulus as quickly as possible, so that maximum jobs are created in the shortest time,” he said.

“If [international aid flows] are delayed beyond the next few months, the country will be forced to cut development spending as well as the provision of critical social services. You can then imagine how big a setback that could be for the global war on terror.”

The New York summit between Obama, Zardari and Brown is viewed as an opportunity to give Pakistan individual focus and undo some of the slight caused by the Af-Pak approach.

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