Pakistan should temper statements about the U.S.

The idea that NATO’s accidental bombing of two military posts in Pakistan reflected a deliberate provocation by the U.S. would be laughable, were it not for the fact that a growing number of Pakistanis are willing to accept that as the truth.

Indeed, they see last weekend’s air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and injured 15 as another example of America’s disrespect for Pakistan’s sovereignty. They note that the killing of Osama bin Laden, the world leading terrorist, inside Pakistan by U.S. special forces was conducted without the knowledge or permission of the government in Islamabad.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the military, in particular, would be publicly critical of the attacks on the military outposts in the Mohmand tribal area and be spoiling for a fight with the United States. After all, the raid on bin Laden’s home occurred under the noses of the military, which has a training base in the neighborhood. It is also not surprising that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani would want to be seen as standing up to the Obama administration.

Gillani has announced that he will not be attending an international conference on Monday in Bonn, Germany, aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan in preparation of the withdrawal of American troops in 2014 from the war-torn country.

But what should be of concern to the White House is the willingness of the people of Pakistan, who should be benefiting from billions of dollars in foreign aid from the U.S., to buy into the idea that the NATO attack was orchestrated by the Americans. It shows that while President Barack Obama, and before him President George W. Bush, have publicly hailed the close ties between the two countries, the reality on the ground is another story all together.

“This business could be a watershed in Pakistan relations with the US,” Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s high commissioner to Britain, told The Guardian newspaper. “It would wreck the timetable for an American troop withdrawal [from Afghanistan]. If they walk away in 2014 without ensuring the stability and peace in Afghanistan, the graveyard they leave behind will come back to haunt them. If they leave without a viable settlement in place, they will push all the debris of their failures into our lap and we will have to face it alone.”

The stakes are high, and Hasan has asked Britain to mediate in its dispute with the U.S., The Guardian reported.

Taliban

Pakistan’s role in the future of Afghanistan must not be down played. Afghan president Hamid Karzai is well aware his country will remain unstable so long as the Taliban view his government as illegitimate and continue to launch attacks on NATO forces from their safe havens in Pakistan.

The Pakistanis have the ability to bring the Taliban and the Haqqani group tied to al-Qaida to ground, but Prime Minister Gillani’s government won’t act so long as the U.S. is viewed with such derision on the streets.

We have consistently called for a White House strategy to win the hearts and minds of the people of Pakistan. This can only be accomplished if ordinary people believe the United States is committed to helping the nation climb out of the poverty that is such an intractable problem.