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Riedel: U.S. Needs to Tread Carefully in Pakistan

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Bruce O. Riedel, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor, CFR.org

September 12, 2008

Bruce O. Riedel, a former high-ranking CIA and Pentagon official who helped shape U.S. policy in South Asia in previous administrations, says the United States faces a very frustrating situation in Pakistan, and the recent U.S. cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan are risky given the anti-Americanism in Pakistan. He says that "in that kind of charged political atmosphere, these kinds of operations can easily incite even further anti-Americanism." His advice for whoever is the next president is "to work with the civilian government, show them we want democracy in Pakistan," and to "increase our assistance to Pakistan, especially in economic areas." He also urges putting pressure on Afghanistan to accept the border with Pakistan imposed in 1893 by the British and get the Indians to work toward a Kashmir solution acceptable to all sides.

In recent days there've been a number of reports about U.S. drones hitting al-Qaeda targets within Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan. And more recently, there have been reports of Navy Seals going into Pakistan, staying a few hours on the ground killing many Taliban or al-Qaeda operatives, and then being flown out by helicopters. Are these cross-border attacks good or bad in the longer run for the United States? What do you think?

Well let me say, first of all, it's very different going into the sovereign territory of a nuclear weapons state. We have heard from the Pakistani army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani that the Pakistani army doesn't approve and will resist. Now some of that may be playacting, part of a very complicated Pakistani internal game that's going on. But my experience with the Pakistani military is that they will jealously try to guard their nation's sovereignty and their own perceived prestige. So it's risky

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.