By Arun Kumar
Washington, Nov 11 (IANS) US President George W. Bush has made it clear that Washington needed Pakistan’s cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda even as he again called on President Pervez Musharraf to return to the democratic path.
“We do share a common goal, and that is to eradicate Al Qaeda,” Bush said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his Texas ranch Saturday.
“I vowed to the American people we’d keep the pressure on them (Al Qaeda). I fully understand we need cooperation to do so, and one country that we need cooperation from is Pakistan,” he said praising Musharraf for helping the US hunt for Al Qaeda after Sep 1, 20001 terrorist attacks.
“That cooperation has been made easier by the fact that Al Qaeda has tried to kill leaders in Pakistan several times. And so we share a common goal,” he said.
Bush’s words again clearly indicated as other officials have done before that despited an ongoing review Washington would continue the flow of aid to Pakistan, which has received close to $10 billion in the last six years and stick with Musharraf, whom it considers “indispensable”.
Bush, who spoke with Musharraf last Wednesday five days after the crackdown, said he was taking the military president who also wears the twin hat of army chief at his word that elections would be held early next year. He had taken “positive steps” by saying he would hold elections early next year and take off his army uniform.
They had not talked to each other since, “but he knows my position,” said Bush. “I take a person for his word until otherwise. I think that’s what you have to do. When somebody says this is what they’re going to do, then you give them a chance to do it.”
“I can tell you this, that President Musharraf, right after the attacks on Sep 11, made a decision, and the decision was to stand with the United States against the extremists inside Pakistan.
“In other words, he was given an option: Are you with us, or are you not with us? And he made a clear decision to be with us, and he’s acted on that advice,” he recalled. Bush, however, did not mention that one US official had threatened to bomb Pakistan back into stone age if it did not cooperate as Musharraf alleges in his book.
Asked to comment on former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto’s description of Pakistan as a pressure cooker about to explode, Bush said both Musharraf and Bhutto understood the dangers of Al Qaeda.
“I believe that we will continue to have good collaboration with the leadership in Pakistan,” he said while hoping democracy would get “back on track as quickly as possible” there.
Meanwhile, opposition Democrats, who have a majority in both houses of US Congress, reacted sceptically to Musharraf’s announcement that he will hold elections in February, despite praise for the step from Bush.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman and presidential candidate Joseph Biden said that he sees a way out of the political crisis in Pakistan based on his conversations this week with Musharraf and Bhutto.
“He and Benazir Bhutto have to negotiate constitutional changes relating to the role of the president and the prime minister. I think that all is doable,” Biden said while warning that the threat of a failed state in Pakistan is “very real.”
Stressing that the United States should be “much more involved behind the scenes,” Biden demanded that if elections are not held on schedule and Musharraf does not take off his uniform, sale of big-ticket defence items such as the F-16 fighter and the P-3 maritime surveillance aircraft should be suspended.
A suspension of aircraft sales “would have an impact on the military, and he [Musharraf] relies on the military,” Biden said. “These weapons systems are designed to maintain the balance of power with India. I do believe there is a means by which this immediate crisis can be resolved.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggested that strings be attached to future aid to Pakistan as discussions are held on the State Department’s proposal to provide $845 million in aid to Pakistan in fiscal year 2008 started Oct 1.
“We’ve given them, Pakistan, American taxpayer dollars to the tune of about $10 billion,” Reid told reporters. “Most of that has gone to heavy equipment, that hasn’t gone into police, that hasn’t gone into a lot of places where many of us think it should have gone.”
Reid said appropriators – members who discuss budget with administartion – would “take a look at this and see if there are other strings that can be attached.”
On the House side, one Democratic member whose appropriations subcommittee holds the purse strings to the Pakistani aid, also said future aid to Pakistan would be scrutinised.
“I will continue monitoring President Musharraf’s actions carefully as Congress approaches critical funding decisions in the coming weeks about our foreign assistance to Pakistan,” said Nita Lowey.