By KUNA,
Islamabad : Pakistan is cautiously assessing the reviewed Afghan policy of President Obama as he describes the success of the revised policy ‘inextricably linked’ to Islamabad. The troops’ surge has leveled Islamabad’s growing concerns over rising Indian presence in Afghanistan but, it appears, Pakistan is not happy over the exit strategy. “The main concern of Islamabad has been the increasing Indian presence in Afghanistan as it has been linked as one of the main factors to intensified militancy and insurgency in the country,” said Saleem Safi, a security analyst from Peshawar who hosts famous analytical program on a local news channel. He said that the US troops surge will help counter Indian involvement. However, Islamabad has been repeatedly saying that the surge is not an issue rather the positioning of US troops and their coordination with Pakistan is the real matter. “Our issue is not that the United States is increasing its troops in Afghanistan or not, but how they deploy them in Afghanistan, and also better coordination,” said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is currently visiting Berlin to attend Commonwealth meeting. Talking to newsmen he expressed “some reservations” over the United States deployment of more troops to Afghanistan and said that Pakistan will express its viewpoint over the new Afghan policy soon. He also called the US to stop drone strikes in its tribal region. Reacting cautiously over the new Afghan policy, a leading political and security analyst Hassan Askari opined that the new strategy has both negative and positive aspects for Pakistan. He said that the presence of more troops will keep a check on Taliban militants and militancy. However, he added, the negative aspect is that this will trigger mass infiltration of fleeing militants to Pakistani bordering areas. “This will further increase pressure on Pakistan to take more action against such fleeing elements and that too in line with American policy,” he said.
Overall, he opined, pressure would remain on Pakistan to do more and drone attacks would also intensify. “The government shall devise a strategy to resolve all issues diplomatically and enhance coordination so that tension between the US and Pakistan doesn’t arises during the fight against terrorism, ” he said.
Meanwhile, Rahimullah Yousafzai, a security expert from Peshawar, rejected the notion that the militant will infiltrate into Pakistan. He said few Taliban leadership is already present in Pakistan but the Taliban foot soldiers and their real fighters would remain in Afghanistan. “It is their strategy to go in hiding when there is an attack. They gain some time and then come out to launch guerilla attacks,” he said. His opinion resonated with the Foreign Minister’s concerns that the deployment of troops would be the real issue. He said majority of the US troops are likely to be deployed along South-western provinces of Afghanistan, which can create disturbance in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.
He called the proposed exit strategy as a political statement of President Obama to calm down those who are opposed to the war and troops surge in Afghanistan. It is not possible for foreign troops to leave Afghanistan, he said, without a well-trained Afghan army and policy, which has the capabilities to protect the country and the government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, talking to a local Geo news channel, said that there was a great deal of consultation before the policy was revised. President Asif Ali Zardari was called by President Obama ahead of his speech. Also, Nawaz Sharif, chief of main opposition Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) was called by Richard Holbrooke.