Afghanistan (Photo credit: Ricymar Fine Art Photography)
American thinkers are still functioning under the paradigm of a unipolar world. Just like it took Russia some time to realize that it was no longer a superpower, it will take Washington thinker some time to realize the that the world does not circumnavigate around the wishes of the White House anymore. American planners have not digested the meaning of “over-reach” and totally are still lost in Alexander’s dream of conquering the world. Just like the Macedonian, they continue to try to move beyond the Oxus (though in a different direction), even though the supply lines and the forces on the ground no longer want to advance anymore.
US general want to use the drones to attack more and more folks in Pakistan. Instead of planning a planned withdrawal, they continue to find reasons to exacerbate the fighting.
Dr. Thomas F. Lynch III is Distinguished Research Fellow for South Asia. He has written a prodigious article for Foreign Policy, a magazine usually dedicated to castigating Pakistan, and eulogizing the work of the US armed forces in West Asia.
Lynch convincingly describes the mechanics of the destruction of Al-Qaeda and correctly describes the ground situation in Afghanistan where the so called “bait” of Mullah Omar to Bin Laden definitely does to extend to those who try to run that organization now. Lynch in effect thus says that the US focus should not be on targeting second and third tier so called leaders in Afghanistan. Instead, Lynch says that the US objectives should be to reduce the tension between Pakistan and India.
“American policy must wake up to the fact that the risks of devastating proxy war between India and Pakistan now dwarf the risks of al-Qaeda’s return to unfettered sanctuary and recalibrate its diplomatic energies and military priorities accordingly.”
Lynch says that Washington must calm down the neighborhood. “The United States must reduce its present focus on killing off every last al-Qaeda affiliated leader or mid-level Haqqani Network operative in Pakistan and pay far more attention to the factors necessary to inhibit proxy war in Afghanistan”
He says that Islamabad see the Afghan National Army as an extension of the Indian Army “a tense but enduring U.S. diplomatic relationship with Pakistan designed to calm its fears that growing Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will become an Indian-directed dagger aimed at Pakistan’s back, and diplomatic engagement with Pakistan and India on an acceptable political and security framework for Afghanistan into the next decade.”
Lynch however argues for a long term stay in Afghanistan “NATO force planners then must devise processes to draw down to the residual U.S./coalition military stabilization forces necessary to stay on for the rest of the decade, enforce this essential Indo-Pakistani framework agreement, and serve as a buttress against points of friction or violence in Afghanistan that could descend into the chaos of a proxy war conflict.”
Lynch understand the uphill task of this venture “these vital outcomes will require earnest and difficult negotiations with the Pakistanis, Indians, Afghan Taliban, and northern ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Negotiations focused on these outcomes have not even begun. It is time that they do.”
The author however ignores the new reality of Pakistan’s FOreign Minister visiting Russia, establishing a strategic partnership with Moscow In the meeting this week Moscow was sympathetic to Pakistan’s request to join the SCO, and plans to assist its South Asian “neighbor” in energy, trade and other areas. It is pedagogical to note that Moscow is also engaging Islamabad in what it calls the Dushambe Four.
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