Islamabad (Thursday, 05 April, 2012): Al-Qaeda has lost in war of ideas and Arab Spring is vivid example of this. US- Pakistan relations will get better in future. Unfortunately, strengths of Pakistan are misunderstood in USA. Pakistan can boast of independent judiciary and thriving media. This was stated by prominent US journalist, author and the director of the national security studies program at the New America Foundation in Washington D.C., Peter Bergen during a discussion forum ‘Future of Al-Qaeda and Pak-US relations’ organized by the Center for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad.
Drawing on his decades– long experience in journalism and extensively writing on the issue of Al-Qaeda in the region, Bergen said that Osama bin Laden had lost relevance even before his death on May 02, 2011. ‘There were no large scale protests on his death in Pakistan or elsewhere around the world on Osama demise’, he observed. He shared that Osama decision to attack USA on September 11, 2011 was questioned by his confidants, but he chose to go ahead: probably Osama wanted to drag USA in a protracted war in Afghanistan and he succeeded in it. Bergen underlined that though war on terror taxed America heavily, yet the economic cost of this war is far less than the cost of American military’s role in World War II and intervention in Vietnam. ‘US has achieved significant milestones in war against Al-Qaeda and the most important one to cripple the terrorist organization to a level that it did not mount any attack on US soil so far’, he asserted.
Regarding Pak-US relations, Bergen underscored that both the countries cannot cooperate in multiple ways and in score of fields. He said that the US always considers Pakistan an important ally and a crucial state in the region and extra-region. He conceded that there is huge misperception about Pakistan among American public and local media is responsible for that. But, he noted that there are grievances on the part of both states, which can be sorted out by cobbling together workable alliance in future. ‘Drone issue is very problematic between two states and at the same time it is the best available tool to take out Al-Qaeda leaders and fighters’, he illustrated. He said although drone attacks in Pakistan were a well kept secret, but now Obama Administration is becoming more open and discussing the issue. He noted that there is significant drop down in drone attacks in Pakistan in past year. In 2010, there were 118 drone attacks and in 2011, there were 78, which are further down in the current year so far. And this is because US is running out of targets in tribal regions.
‘Pakistan is evolving as a democratic state and as a nation in recent decades. Arab Spring came to Pakistan earlier than the Middle East, when people threw out powerful military dictator,’ he observed. He said it is good omen for democracy in Pakistan that parliamentary committee is debating the foreign policy of Pakistan and it is very unique in Pakistani context. He further said that though there are underlying issues and meltdown of economy in Pakistan, it could be overcome with the help of constructively evolving state institutions. Regarding a question about announcement of bounty on Jamat-ul-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, he said Saeed organization was allegedly involved in attacking Mumbai in November 2008 and during these attacks US citizens were killed that is why US took the step to put pressure on him.
Discussing peace process in Afghanistan, he underlined that there can be no peace with Taliban, since the latter has different world view and agenda for Afghanistan. He warned moderate Taliban have already reconciled and now there are only hard core fighters in the ranks of Taliban, who are ready to die till death. He noted upcoming elections of 2014 in Afghanistan are very important and US and NATO should ensure that these are fair and impartial, otherwise Afghanistan will implode and the entire progress made in last ten years will be reversed. Concluding his talk, he commented that Pakistan has crucial stakes in peace in Afghanistan and it should play positive role, since implosion of Afghanistan will wreak havoc in Pakistan frontier regions and Balochistan. He underscored that peace in the region can only be achieved through the constructive engagement among regional and extra-regional states. ‘Good relation between Pakistan and India can pull off a safe future for the region’, he noted.
