The United States must make a long-term commitment to Pakistan to help it overcome challenges of extremism and terrorism, a prominent Republican presidential contender underscored.
In an article in Foreign Affairs magazine's latest edition, Senator John McCain called for enhancing the key South Asian ally's ability to act against terrorists and bringing formal school education to all its children.
"The United States must help Pakistan resist the forces of extremism by making a long-term commitment to the country," he wrote in the article entitled "An Enduring Peace Built on Freedom," while outlining his foreign policy priorities.
In the regional context, he maintained "success in Afghanistan is critical to stop al Qaeda, but success in neighbouring Pakistan is just as vital.' The seasoned lawmaker observed what happens in Iraq will also affect Afghanistan and noted that while there has been progress in some fields in Afghanistan, the "Talibans' recent resurgence, however, threatens to lead Afghanistan to revert to its pre-9/11 role as a sanctuary for terrorists with global reach."
"The US recommitment to Afghanistan must include increasing Nato forces, suspending the debilitating restrictions on when and how those forces can fight, expanding the training and equipping of the Afghan National Army through a long-term partnership with Nato to make it more professional and multiethnic, and deploying significantly more foreign police trainers," he stressed.
"It must also address the current political deficiencies in judicial reform, reconstruction, governance, and anti-corruption efforts," he added. Senator Hillary Clinton, a leading Democratic candidate for presidential nomination, writing in the prestigious magazine remarked that "the forgotten frontline in the war on terror is Afghanistan," where the military effort must be reinforced.
"The Taliban cannot be allowed to regain power in Afghanistan, if they return, al Qaeda will return with them. Yet current US policies have actually weakened President Hamid Karzai's government and allowed the Taliban to retake many areas, especially in the south."
She wrote that a largely unimpeded heroin (poppy) trade finances the very Taliban fighters and al Qaeda terrorists who are attacking American troops. "In addition to engaging in counternarcotics efforts, we must seek to dry up recruiting opportunities for the Taliban by funding crop-substitution programs, a large-scale road-building initiative, institutions that train and prepare Afghans for honest and effective governance, and programs to enable women to play a larger role in society."
She argued that redoubling the US efforts with Pakistan would not only help root out terrorist elements there; "it would also signal to our Nato partners that the war in Afghanistan and the broader fight against extremism in South Asia are battles that we can and must win.
"Yet we cannot succeed unless we design a strategy that treats the entire region as an interconnected whole, where crises overlap with one another and the danger of a chain reaction of disasters is real."
Clinton maintained combating terrorism around the world will require better intelligence and noted that most of the terrorists apprehended for plotting attacks against the United States, both before and after 9/11, were arrested in other countries as a result of co-operation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
"To maximise our effectiveness, we have to rebuild our alliances. The problem we face is global; we must therefore be attentive to the values, concerns, and interests of our allies and partners.
"That means doing a better job of building counterterrorist capacity around the world. We must help strengthen police, prosecutorial and judicial systems abroad, improve intelligence, and implement more stringent border controls, especially in developing countries."
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