Washington upset as Taliban spread influence

WASHINGTON: Anguish and concern grip Washington as the Obama administration gets impatient with Islamabad’s reluctance to take on the Taliban.

At one stage on Thursday, the Americans seemed so upset that they even hinted at withdrawing their offer to invite Pakistan to a trilateral summit at the White House, a diplomatic source told Dawn.

‘The hint was later dropped and Pakistan was assured that the summit would go ahead as planned’ on May 6-7, the source said.

The panic began early Thursday, when Washington woke up to the news that the Taliban had taken over Buner and were now only 81 km from Islamabad.

Richard Holbrooke, America’s special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, told reporters that the Obama administration was recalibrating the schedule drawn up for the White House summit at among Mr Obama and the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The trilateral summit, Mr Holbrooke said, ‘was conceived in an atmosphere that has now changed significantly, and the focus is increasingly on Pakistan.’

Another administration official acknowledged some concern over Mr Zardari's planned week-long absence from home for his visit here, given Pakistan's history of military coups and government overthrows while the head of state was outside the country.

‘We inquired twice’ whether Mr Zardari was concerned about leaving Pakistan, the official told The Washington Post.

‘Both times we were told no.’ Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, will remain in Pakistan during Mr Zardari's trip, the official said.

Besides bringing behind the scene pressures, the Obama administration also warned the Pakistani government publicly ‘that failure to take action against the extremists could endanger its partnership with the United States.’

Also on Thursday, President Obama held a White House meeting on the subject with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ambassador Holbrooke. He also brought it up in a separate session with congressional leaders.

After the consultations, Ambassador Holbrooke spoke by telephone to President Asif Ali Zardari and with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

‘There have been contacts at other levels as well,’ said a diplomatic source but pointed out that Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen’s visit to Islamabad on Thursday was not linked to the situation in Swat or Buner.

‘It was another defence related matter not linked to Swat,’ the source said.

Contacts between the two countries continued on Friday as well, with the Americans insisting that they were frustrated with the overall situation, and not just Buner and Swat.

‘Making you take action against the Taliban is like pulling your teeth,’ a US diplomat told a senior Pakistani official. ‘It seems that while you say the Taliban are your enemy, you do not really consider them an enemy.’

The Americans insisted that they see a pattern in Pakistan’s reluctance. ‘There’s no real desire to defeat the Taliban. You see them as a problem but not as a threat to your country.’

At the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood indicated that the Americans had been trying to persuade Islamabad to take military action against the militants.

‘Was there anything that this Administration tried to do over the last 24 hours that made them see the light?’ Mr Wood was asked.

‘We have regular conversations at various levels, and I’m sure some conversations have taken place over the last day or so,’ the spokesman said.

The US media reported that the Americans were so worried at Pakistan's deterioration; they were considering switching allegiances from President Zardari and his Pakistan People's Party-dominated government to his rival, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

But the media also noted that there was little direct action the administration could take beyond exhorting the Pakistanis and redoubling efforts to quickly implement key elements of the Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy Obama announced late last month.