Next US leader must revamp Pak policy

WASHINGTON - As Pakistan intensifies action against extremists, an experts report says the next US President must revamp policy toward its ally, mixing deft diplomacy, security support and economic aid to help the country defeat a grave threat from extremists.

Pakistan Policy Working Group, a bi-partisan group of about a dozen experts on US-Pakistan relations, said the nuclear-armed country of 160 million people could pose the 'single greatest challenge' for the next US President.

The group, which was formed in January this year, observes in the report that emergence of democratically elected govt in Pakistan and the upcoming November 4 US Presidential elections offer an opportunity to formulate policies and manage the 'exceedingly important' relationship between the two countries.

'Washington needs to rethink its entire approach to Pakistan', said the report. 'We must be much smarter about how we work with Pakistan, with whom we work, and what sort of assistance we provide', it added.

The report said last month's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad showed that US options were diminishing rapidly and there was no time to lose. It also warned that increased US missile attacks on targets inside Pakistan, reflecting impatience with Islamabad, are counter-productive.

A review of policies toward Pakistan, recipient of $11 billion in mostly military aid from the US since the September 11, 2001, attacks, should begin with updating the National Intelligence Estimate on the country to form a strategic plan for all US govt agencies, it said.

The 43-page report sets out recommendations for new US policies in the areas of Pakistani domestic politics, counter-terrorism and domestic security, regional relationships and US aid to Pakistan.In the domestic arena, the US needs to be patient with the new elected govt, help build up democratic institutions and support broad reforms, it said.

The report calls upon the US to 'develop, invest in, and implement a far-reaching public diplomacy programme that emphasises common US and Pakistani interests in combating extremism, creating prosperity, and improving regional relationships instead of highlighting the struggle against extremism in Pakistan as part of the Global War on Terrorism'.

'Just as the US was too slow in gauging the public disaffection with former President Pervez Musharraf before the 2008 elections, it must not too quickly lose patience with Pakistan's elected leaders', it said.

In the security sphere, the report urges Washington to boost support for Pakistani civilian institutions that can oversee military and intelligence agencies, who often operate autonomously and have used Islamic militants as a foreign policy tool against India and Afghanistan.

'The US should seek to adjust Pakistan's cost-benefit calculus of using militants in its foreign policy', it said.

Military assistance should be used to transform parts of the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps, which operate in border tribal areas, into effective counter-insurgency forces, it added.

On regional relations, the report recommends naming a senior US official responsible for promoting better ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose animosity hampers cross-border counter-terrorism efforts. Similar efforts are needed to encourage the India-Pakistan peace process, it said.

'US diplomatic initiatives toward Pakistan must also demonstrate that a convergence of US, India, and Afghanistan interests on terrorism does not mean the three countries are colluding against Pakistan', the report said.

The group endorses a bipartisan US aid plan introduced in July by Democratic Sen Joe Biden and Republican Sen Richard Lugar, which calls for $1.5 billion per year in non-military spending to support economic development in Pakistan.

'Such assistance, however, must be performance-based, and must be accompanied by rigorous oversight and accountability', said the report.

It also recommends favourable US market access for Pakistani textiles and for products produced in tribal regions on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

On the economic front, the policy report calls for enhancing 'access of Pakistani textiles to the US market on favoured terms, starting with passage of the long-awaited Reconstruction Opportunity Zone legislation, and consider increasing the number of product lines included in that legislation'.

The majority of US economic aid, it pleads, should focus on projects in basic education, health care, water resource management, law enforcement, and justice programmes, with the goal of developing state capacity to effectively deliver these services to the population.

The US military assistance should focus on providing systems and training that enhance Pakistan's counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency capabilities, it proposes.

The group included Co-Chairs Kara L. Bue, Armitage International, L.C Lisa Curtis, The Heritage Foundation and members Walter Andersen, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Stephen P. Cohen, The Brookings Institution, Xenia Dormandy, Harvard University, C. Christine Fair John A. Gastright, Jr., DynCorp International, Robert M. Hathaway, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Dennis Kux, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Daniel Markey, Council on Foreign Relations, Polly Nayak, Independent Consultant, J Alexander Thier, United States Institute of Peace,Marvin G. Weinbaum, The Middle East Institute and Rapporteur Nicholas Hamisevicz, The Heritage Foundation.