<b> Searching for a Pakistan policy </b> | Embassy - Canada's ... http://www.embassymag.ca/page/printpage/pakistan-9-23-2009 embassymag.ca September 23, 2009 - http://embassymag.ca/page/printpage/pakistan-9-23-2009 Searching for a Pakistan policy By Lee Berthiaume On a cold winter morning in mid-January, about 90 academics, journalists, former political leaders and diplomats gathered in a room in the Ottawa headquarters of Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. While drawn from different backgrounds, they all shared one thing in common: deep interest or expertise in Pakistan. The next two days were spent discussing the factors that had contributed to the South Asian country being named one of the most dangerous countries in the world in terms of global stability. The participants also laid out possible scenarios for Pakistan's future. The main ideas were captured in a report that would support "the Embassy Photo: Lee Berthiaume development of an informal community of interest on Pakistan's Pakistan High Commissioner Akbar Zeb says his security within the government of Canada." country wants the Canadian government to start working on a free trade agreement with his country, Yet noticeably absent from the report were any policy suggestions for increase aid and lift arms trading restrictions. Canada, whose own interest in Afghanistan's nuclear-armed neighbour cannot be understated. In fact, the only real mention of Canada came in explaining the implications Pakistan's deteriorating security situation would have on Canada. Eight years after 9/11 put Pakistan on the front lines of the global war on terror, critics say the government has failed to fully grasp the need for a comprehensive policy towards the country. In particular, they argue the government has failed to keep step with its allies, a deficiency that is having serious ramifications on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan's own high commissioner to Canada is hoping for substantive changes in Canada's Pakistan policy in the near future. However, he warns against looking at his country solely through the lens of Afghanistan like other countries have started to do. Security risk The list of participants at the two-day session at CSIS reads like a phone book of Afghanistan-Pakistan experts. Barnett Rubin, Mark Sedra, Janice Gross Stein, Elliot Tepper and Stephen Cohen. Equally impressive was the list of government officials on-hand, including CSIS director Jim Judd and Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Randolph Mank. According to the report, there are a number of serious implications for Canada tied up with any weakening of Pakistani security. All but one—the fallout of a nuclear war with India—relate to terrorism and Afghanistan. Taliban utilization of border areas, attacks on NATO supply routes for the Afghan mission, and the continued use of Pakistan as a safe haven for terrorists are all mentioned. 1 of 6 23/10/09 10:32 PM <b> Searching for a Pakistan policy </b> | Embassy - Canada's ... http://www.embassymag.ca/page/printpage/pakistan-9-23-2009 Canada, to date, has lost 131 soldiers, one diplomat and two aid workers since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It has also spent billions of dollars on assistance and counter-insurgency fighting. Since moving into Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan in 2005, lawlessness on the Pakistani side of the border and the presence of extremists and fighters has had a direct impact on the Canadian mission. Insurgents recruit, reorganize and rearm in the Pakistani border areas before crossing back into Kandahar and other border provinces to resume fighting. At the same time, weak governance and rule of law means the border region remains a base for terrorists hoping to take the war to their enemies' doorsteps. This, the participants argued, poses a direct threat to Canada. "Until recently, Canada's experience of jihadi terrorism has had a North African face (symbolised by Ahmed Rassam)," reads the CSIS report, referring to the Algerian man tried to sneak into the US from Canada with a plan to blow up Los Angeles Airport on Dec. 31, 1999. However, the participants said that the only conviction to-date under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act was Pakistani- Canadian Momin Khawaja. He was convicted in October 2008 for building bombs, facilitating terrorism and receiving terrorism training in Pakistan. The participants noted that "Like Khawaja, other Canadian residents have received terrorism training in Pakistan." Catching up On March 27, US President Obama unveiled his administration's new policy on Afghanistan—and, as it turned out, the region. He'd already named American heavy-weight diplomat Richard Holbrooke his new special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan in January, and the new strategy solidified the shift in US policy to "two countries but one challenge." "The future of Afghanistan is inextricably linked to the future of its neighbour, Pakistan," Mr. Obama said in a televised address. "In the nearly eight years since 9/11, al-Qaeda and its extremist allies have moved across the border to the remote areas of the Pakistani frontier.... They have used this mountainous terrain as a safe-haven to hide, train terrorists, communicate with followers, plot attacks, and send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan." Following the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan—then led by Pervez Musharraf, the general who ousted the previous president through a coup in 1999—was one of the primary countries the US turned to for assistance in conducting the war in Afghanistan. Faced with appearing to look like an American puppet or refusing the world's only remaining superpower, Mr. Musharraf and his government walked a balancing act over the next few years. "From the start it was a clear message from President Bush that you're either with us or against us," says Anthony Cordesman, an expert on Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The problem in reality, however, is how much pressure can you put on Pakistan? How much does Pakistan actually react to that pressure positively?" During the next few years, American policy towards Pakistan largely focused on ensuring the security of its nuclear weapons from terrorists. Yet it was widely acknowledged that defeating the insurgents in Afghanistan—which had taken second-fiddle to Iraq—meant tackling them in Pakistan, directly or indirectly. "It certainly isn't a case where anyone ever thought you could decouple Afghanistan and Pakistan," says Mr. Cordesman. Yet experts and critics lamented the absence of any real strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan together. The Obama administration's plan appeared to placate many of those critics, and was widely welcomed. Among the steps to be taken were a three-fold increase in aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion (US) and a ramped up diplomatic presence, led by Mr. Holbrooke. On April 23, the House of Commons Special Afghanistan committee travelled to Washington to discuss the new American 2 of 6 23/10/09 10:32 PM <b> Searching for a Pakistan policy </b> | Embassy - Canada's ... http://www.embassymag.ca/page/printpage/pakistan-9-23-2009 approach to the region. It tabled a report on the trip in early June. "If one message stood out from the committee's meetings in Washington, it was that the United States has come to recognize the critical importance of Pakistan to any chance of lasting success in Afghanistan," the committee wrote, "but more fundamentally to stability and peace in the region as a whole." The committee went on to cite one senior US official as stating that while the situation in Afghanistan remained a serious challenge, it was a more "intellectually manageable" problem than that of Pakistan. "Pakistan is not only the most important US partner in the fight against al-Qaeda," the committee wrote, "but also the most difficult one." Other countries heavily committed in Afghanistan, such as the UK and France, have followed suit with their own regional approaches, including naming their own super envoys to mimic Mr. Holbrooke's role. Ottawa has remained noticeably low-key when it comes to Pakistan. Critics say the government's policy towards Pakistan has been sorely lacking. In particular, they allege the government has failed to recognize the important link between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "We've come late to the game. I'm not sure if they fully understand it yet," says NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar. "I'm assuming they have people within the department who have done the analysis. So the question is how is our policy reflecting what everybody knows, that Pakistan is as much or more of a problem than Afghanistan?" "We've been very slow," agrees Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae. One of Mr. Rae's enduring criticisms of the government's policy in the region has been the absence of a special representative like Mr. Holbrooke. The Manley report itself, he argues, specifically recommended such an envoy. "My view all the way through is I don't think the political and diplomatic efforts of the government have matched in any way, shape or form the level of sacrifice of our troops. I don't see the co-ordination from Ottawa that we need to see." The government, which wholeheartedly endorsed the Manley report in March 2008, has repeatedly rejected such a proposal. Instead, it says its ambassador in Afghanistan and high commissioner in Pakistan provide adequate representation on the ground. The deputy minister of the Privy Council Office's task force rounds things out as the main co-ordinator. Yet the degree to which Pakistan and Afghanistan have been melded, at least in official Ottawa, remains unclear.