The United States is being "taken for suckers" and "looked at as patsies" by Pakistan, as a White House report gave a harshly critical assessment of Islamabad's effort to defeat extremism.
Lawmakers wanted a major reappraisal of U.S outlook for the region. They expressed doubts if any good would come out of the current U.S policy of coddling Islamabad in the face of Pakistani duplicity in combating extremism.
The US government pours Billions of dollars of the hard-working American tax-payer's money into pakistan, trying to shore up its tottering, decrepit, down-in-the-dumps economy & boost up its defenses by giving away multi-billions dollars worth of military hardware, including Nuclear-capable fighter aircrafts, ostensibly to fight the extremist Taliban & Al-Qaeda terrorists. Expression of gratitude by the pakistan Army for this multi-billion dollar worth of aid each year comes in the form of nurturing & supporting theses very terrorists, providing them with shelter, training and weapons, often purchased with the aid money provided to them by the US, who then go on to murder American & NATO soldiers stationed in Afghanistan that are fighting the Al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, who had conspired to engage in the mass murder of Americans in the 9/11 attack.
"After 10 years of hearing the same sales pitch I tend to doubt it. I doubt that our money is buying anything that's deep or durable," New York Congressman Gary Ackerman said at a hearing. "I doubt the leaders in the Afghan government and the Pakistani government are going to do anything except pursue their own narrow, venal self interests. I doubt the ISI will ever stop working with us during the day and going to see their not-so-secret friends in the Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e Mohammed and other terrorist groups at night."
His California colleague Dana Rohrabacher went even further back to frame the situation in a historical context. "I've been hearing that for 50 years. And I will tell you, a realistic relationship, rather than basing the relationship on wishful thinking, is what will bring about peace in that part of the world. What we've had is wishful thinking and what I call irrational optimism," he said at a hearing called to assess U.S foreign policy priorities in South Asia.
The critical comments came just hours after a White House report to Congress concluded that after years of work with the Pakistani military "there remains no clear path toward defeating the insurgency" that thrives in the country, remarks that analysts said reflected growing frustration in the administration over Pakistan's commitment to fight extremism.
The broad reading in Washington is that nothing can placate a security establishment [read pakistan Army] that extend its stranglehold on the Pakistani people and the country's meager resources. President Obama downwards, U.S officials have said the Pakistani military's obsession is misplaced.
Lawmakers wanted a major reappraisal of U.S outlook for the region. They expressed doubts if any good would come out of the current U.S policy of coddling Islamabad in the face of Pakistani duplicity in combating extremism.
The US government pours Billions of dollars of the hard-working American tax-payer's money into pakistan, trying to shore up its tottering, decrepit, down-in-the-dumps economy & boost up its defenses by giving away multi-billions dollars worth of military hardware, including Nuclear-capable fighter aircrafts, ostensibly to fight the extremist Taliban & Al-Qaeda terrorists. Expression of gratitude by the pakistan Army for this multi-billion dollar worth of aid each year comes in the form of nurturing & supporting theses very terrorists, providing them with shelter, training and weapons, often purchased with the aid money provided to them by the US, who then go on to murder American & NATO soldiers stationed in Afghanistan that are fighting the Al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, who had conspired to engage in the mass murder of Americans in the 9/11 attack.
"After 10 years of hearing the same sales pitch I tend to doubt it. I doubt that our money is buying anything that's deep or durable," New York Congressman Gary Ackerman said at a hearing. "I doubt the leaders in the Afghan government and the Pakistani government are going to do anything except pursue their own narrow, venal self interests. I doubt the ISI will ever stop working with us during the day and going to see their not-so-secret friends in the Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e Mohammed and other terrorist groups at night."
His California colleague Dana Rohrabacher went even further back to frame the situation in a historical context. "I've been hearing that for 50 years. And I will tell you, a realistic relationship, rather than basing the relationship on wishful thinking, is what will bring about peace in that part of the world. What we've had is wishful thinking and what I call irrational optimism," he said at a hearing called to assess U.S foreign policy priorities in South Asia.
The critical comments came just hours after a White House report to Congress concluded that after years of work with the Pakistani military "there remains no clear path toward defeating the insurgency" that thrives in the country, remarks that analysts said reflected growing frustration in the administration over Pakistan's commitment to fight extremism.
The broad reading in Washington is that nothing can placate a security establishment [read pakistan Army] that extend its stranglehold on the Pakistani people and the country's meager resources. President Obama downwards, U.S officials have said the Pakistani military's obsession is misplaced.
