As expected, Pakistan has reacted sharply to what Leon Panetta told reporters before arriving in Kabul last week as the new US Defence Secretary, having shifted from the CIA, which he headed until the end of June. Panetta had said that he believed Ayman al Zawahiri, the new al Qaeda chief, was now living in Pakistan, and "he's one of those we would like to see the Pakistanis target."
Considering that Panetta seemed so sure of the wanted man's whereabouts, it was only logical for ISPR spokesman to ask for information to do the needful. The spokesman averred, "we expect the US intelligence establishment to share available information and actionable intelligence regarding al Zawahiri and other high-value targets with us, enabling Pakistan Army to carry out the targeted operations."
Al Zawahiri, of course, is no friend of Pakistan. In fact, his book that appeared last year reportedly includes a discussion of al Qaeda plans for Pakistan as well. He would want to do all he can to create chaos in this country to pave the way for the realisation of al Qaeda ambitions for Pakistan. Islamabad, therefore, needs to target him with or without the US urging. But the question is where to find him? He may be moving in and out of the tribal areas; no one in his position would stay in one place for long. It may be extremely difficult but not impossible to catch him. The best way forward is for the two countries to share information.
The Pak-US relationship has not recovered yet from the setback of the US' secret military operation at Osama bin Laden's hideout. If any thing, tensions have continued to exacerbate. Bin Laden's presence in the garrison town of Abbottabad was a major failure on the part of the Pakistani intelligence agencies. And they admitted as much.
Some senior US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton though have acknowledged that there is no evidence that anyone at the highest levels in Pakistan government knew about bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad. More importantly, the failure has generated huge domestic criticism, leading to the setting up of an independent inquiry commission that is to examine different aspects of the lapse.
It goes without saying that the deterioration in Pak-US relations is not the result of the Abbottabad raid only. The two countries do not see eye-to-eye on certain aspects of the Afghan war resolution. But there is a strong convergence of interest on getting rid of al Zawahiri and every remnant of al Qaeda.
It is unhelpful, therefore, for the US to use an accusatory tone against Pakistan, as Panetta seemed to be doing when he declared al Zawahiri was living in Pakistan, and that his country would like Pakistan to go after him. The two sides must work in a spirit of co-operation to combat their common enemies, al Qaeda as well as other violent extremists, irrespective of their policy differences over Afghanistan.