Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S. Mahmud Ali Durrani Speaks on "Pakistan's Role in the War on Terror"
Keeping his remarks brief, Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S. Mahmud Ali Durrani laid out Pakistan's position and progress in the war on terrorism to a Fletcher audience on March 29. Allotting most of the time during the lecture to questions, Durrani conveyed not only Pakistan's commitment to the fight against terrorism, but also the effectiveness of the government's strategy and tactics.
"Terrorism is unacceptable despite the underlying motives, it is unacceptable to the world and to Pakistan," Durrani said.
He said that through good intelligence, Pakistan was able to apprehend numerous high level Al Quaeda operatives and kill hundreds of terrorists. Pakistan, though, has had to pay a price for its commitment to fighting terrorism, noting the recent series of suicide bombings conducted by extremists in the country. Durrani, however, made it clear that Pakistan was fighting terrorism for its own interest first, and secondly for the world.
He commended President Pervez Musharraf's controversial strategy of signing agreements with tribal leaders in North Waziristan, an area used as a launching base by Taliban and Al Queda operatives. Likening it to a detoxification of drug addicts, Durrani said that the purpose of the strategy is to pull the people in the region away from the bad elements. He explained that pursuant to the agreement, the tribal elders committed that their tribesmen would not attack law enforcement officers, create a parallel administration, cross the Afghanistan border or allow foreigners to enter the area.
Despite U.S. doubts, Durrani said that the strategy was not only working, but he predicted that its neighbor Afghanistan would soon find the need to make similar agreements with its tribal groups.
"It is working because we have signed it from our position of strength," he said.
Responding to the question of whether or not Pakistan could apply lessons from its experience with India to Afghanistan, the Ambassador said that "(T)he two borders, disputes, terrains and people are utterly different, but there are two common threads from our experience with India: patience and dialogue."
Noting that Pakistan has bled for Afhanistan twice in history with the anti-Soviet War during the 1980's and the recent influx of Afghan refugees into its territory, Durrani expressed hope that Afghanistan would eventually be able to control its tribal groups, as this is key to addressing terrorism in the region.
Durrani, a retired general, served as defense and military attaché in Washington from 1977 to 1982. After his retirement he was involved in promoting peace efforts with India and wrote the book, India and Pakistan: The Cost of Conflict and the Benefits of Peace.
"Pakistan wants peace on both its western and eastern borders –this purely for selfish reasons." Durrani said.
Durrani said that the country was trying to "win back our soul of a moderate Muslim country." The government is encouraging the approximately 15,000 madrassahs in Pakistan to enhance their education standards so that their graduates are able to gain employment other than becoming Imams in mosques.
Durrani asserted that Pakistan is moving towards democratic rule, but this has to come with education and the economic empowerment of the people which requires strong leadership. He dismissed the notion that the current regime was a bullet away from capitulating, and said that even if Musharraf was to fall out of power, the idea that "all the fundamentals [will] come in" is not going to happen. Durrani also clarified that Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency was not a "lose cannon" and was very much under control.
He noted the recent criticisms by the U.S. of Pakistan's strategy and progress in fighting terrorism. "Your Congress is challenging your government and all the relations of your government –they are giving us a tough time."
Durrani said the Pakistani government has been trying to remind the U.S. that Pakistan had "taken hits, gone against popular sentiment" to support the U.S. in the war against terrorism to which it is still committed.