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Ousting al-Qaida
BRITAIN and America, it seems, are united in one belief at least – in spite of the scant regard shown by President Obama for his British allies fighting and dying in Afghanistan by his woeful delay in deciding whether or not to commit further US troops.
Both Washington and London, however, are increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress made by Pakistan in rooting out the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies from the mountainous badlands on the Afghan border. Gordon Brown's comments yesterday echo the findings of a US Senate report which said that failure to capture Osama bin Laden had laid the foundations for the protracted Afghan insurgency.
This may well be the case. However, the history of British and American involvement with this volatile region is littered with mistakes and there is little point in lamenting them. What is important now is striving for future success and, in this context, it is instructive to note the growing belief in Islamabad that America and its Nato allies will fail in Afghanistan. Indeed, this is said to be a key reason for the Pakistani army's reluctance to pursue the Taliban and al-Qaida into their North Waziristan redoubt.
Why, after all, should Pakistan risk further internal conflict by engaging these militias – who, unlike their counterparts in South Waziristan, have as yet picked no quarrel with Islamabad – when Mr Obama's dithering, growing public disillusionment in Britain and the wavering of supposed European allies means that the Alliance may soon quit Afghanistan in defeat? If Britain and America are worried about lack of progress in defeating al-Qaida, it is to themselves that they must look, rather than Pakistan.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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