Joining calls for enhanced economic and security support for Pakistan in order to defeat forces of radicalism along the Pak-Afghan border, Senator John McCain has said the United States must devise its policy towards Pakistan by recognising the South Asian country's own vital importance. Washington, he cautioned, should not confine its Pakistan view to the prism of American goals in Afghanistan.
"For too long we have viewed Pakistan as important because of our goals in Afghanistan. Yet Pakistan is not simply important because of Afghanistan; Pakistan is important because of Pakistan. We cannot simply subordinate our Pakistan strategy to our Afghanistan policy," he argued at a Washington think tank.
The Republican lawmaker spoke on Wednesday as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held three-way consultations with Pakistani and Afghan foreign ministers on the Obama administration evolving a comprehensive way forward in the Pak-Afghan region, which is facing a growing Taliban insurgency, ascribed largely to years of narrowly pursued security-focused strategy. As part of solution to the problem, McCain, the 2008 presidential candidate, urged strengthening the hand of democratic Pakistani government as well as dedicating significant development resources to the country's impoverished tribal border areas.
"We should start by empowering the new civilian government in Islamabad to defeat radicalism with greater support for development, health, and education. Today, development assistance constitutes just one percent of all US funding directed toward programmes in the tribal and border areas. This must change."
"We should also strengthen local tribes in these areas who are willing to fight terrorists - the strategy used successfully in Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq, while recognising that such an approach will not be nearly as quick or far-reaching as it was in Iraq".
"We should strengthen the army and the Frontier Corps' counter insurgency capacity, and do all we can to stiffen the will of our Pakistani partners to fight the war they face at home," he added. He supported approaching the problem regionally and welcomed the Obama Administration's appointment of a new special US envoy (Richard Holbrooke) as a "step in the right direction."
"His goal should be to turn Afghanistan from a theatre for regional rivalries into a commons for regional co-operation." Finally, he stressed, "We should make clear to all in the region, through both word and deed, that the United States and the international community are committed to success in the long run."
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