Abdicating to the Taliban?

Hillary Clinton's assertion that Pakistan posed a "mortal threat" to the world by abdicating to the Taliban is an unusually strong statement by a Secretary of State towards a key US ally, but reflects a growing impatience in Washington with this strategically important South Asian country.

Soon after Mrs Clinton addressed a congressional panel on Pakistan, Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned the country that relations with the US would be threatened unless Islamabad combated the spread of the Taliban.

Clinton told members of congress that extremists were being allowed to control territory such as the Swat Valley region in north-west Pakistan and called the country's judicial system corrupt, saying it had only limited power in the countryside.

Earlier this month, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari approved the implementation of Sharia law in the Swat Valley, which is only 100 km from Islamabad, in return for an end to Taliban insurgency there. However, most international media reports have suggested the Taliban have not laid down their arms, which they are obliged to do under the peace deal, and are expanding influence. "I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and extremists, Clinton said, adding that Pakistan was conceding "more and more territory to the insurgents, to the Taliban, to Al-Qaeda, to the allies that are in this terrorist syndicate".

Clinton's outburst is a reflection of Barack Obama's new strategy towards Pakistan and promises billions of dollars in aid while demanding more co-operation from the government. Only last week, at an international conference in Tokyo, the US pledged $1 billion to stabilise Pakistan and fight Islamic extremism there. In all, the international community promised $5 billion for Pakistan, an extremely generous figure.

The US is right to link the conflicts in Pakistan and Afghanistan and a victory over the Taliban is only possible if there exists a joint strategy on both fronts. Washington is also right to demand more co-operation from Islamabad and Kabul in return for increased aid. The link between Pakistan's military intelligence and the Taliban, for example, which goes back to the 1980s, is of particular concern, even though Zardari has done more than his predecessor in trying to cut this link.

Of course, American policy towards Pakistan has not been without fault. Washington's backing of then President General Pervez Musharraf was certainly questionable and must have contributed towards fuelling support for the jihadis and the Taliban. Furthermore, the indiscriminate US bombing of Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan, which has continued under Obama, and which has led to the death of many innocent civilians, does nothing to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the Pakistani people.

The agreement between the Pakistani government and the Taliban over the imposition of Sharia law in the Swat Valley is indeed worrying. Besides being extremely offensive to women's rights and human rights in general, a very dangerous precedent has been established. The Taliban has been allowed to set up a separate judicial system and de facto establish control over a part of Pakistani territory.

Where will this end? Will the Taliban now engage in insurgencies in other regions of Pakistan and make Sharia law a condition for the establishment of a truce? Furthermore, how does the Taliban's control of Swat Valley, which is next to Afghanistan, help the fight against the Taliban across the border?

Pakistan's plight is indeed very serious. Besides the Taliban insurgency in the north-west frontier, there exists a conflict between Sunnis and Shi'ites, an insurgency in Baluchistan and home-grown jihadis fighting Indian troops in Kashmir. A huge domestic quarrel between the government and the opposition led by Nawaz Sharif over the independence of the judiciary threatened to turn the country's focus away from the fight against jihadis.

Nawaz has now said that although he will not join the government, he will support it from the opposition benches, which is encouraging considering that Pakistan needs as much national unity as possible in the present scenario.

In his book Against All Enemies, Richard Clarke, who worked in counterterrorism for three US Presidents until 2003, wrote this about Pakistan: "To this day Usama bin Laden is a popular icon in Pakistan. Mosques and affiliated madrassas schools in Pakistan teach hatred of America and all that is not Islam. Large areas of Pakistan along the Afghan border are still not controlled by the central government and offer sanctuary to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. All of this is true about a country that also has nuclear weapons."

He adds: "Pakistan could become what Bin Laden dreams of: an Islamic nation controlled by radicals, with popular support for fundamentalism and terrorism, armed with nuclear weapons. Such a state could use those nuclear weapons in a war of hatred with neighbouring India or it could provide them to terrorists."

This is a nightmare scenario the world can do without.