Underlining the terrorism emanating from Pakistan, a US scholar has urged the Biden administration to stop offering concessions to the south Asian country in exchange for counterterrorism cooperation, saying that "it's like offering arsonist matches and gasoline in exchange for a promise not to start fires."
In an opinion piece for Washington Examiner, Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) said that the terrorism problem emanating from Afghanistan pales in comparison to that of Pakistan.
Rubin highlighted how after 9/11 Pakistan played a double game, charging the US exorbitant prices to transit supplies across its territory while diverting a portion of that money to fund the Taliban in order to keep the racket going.
"Sheltering al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was the icing on the cake. The final Taliban offensive was not spontaneous -- jihadi eulogies and burials suggest thousands of Pakistanis took part in the final offensive," he said.
The Washington based expert argued that US military drawdown from Afghanistan in August has only encouraged terrorist-sympathizing Pakistani officials. "While Pakistani diplomats might whisper sweet nothings to their American counterparts and assure them that Islamabad will stand against terrorism, recent Pakistani actions suggest the opposite."
The expert pointed out how the US intelligence community underestimated the speed with which the Taliban would overrun Afghanistan and also how they botched assessments of the degree to which terrorist groups would thrive after the US withdrawal.
The nexus of terrorism today is not in Kabul or Kandahar, but instead in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, he added. "It is time for the White House and State Department to recognize the obvious: To Pakistani authorities, the fate of the murderers of Americans in Mumbai, Karachi, or Kabul is a barometer of American credibility."
In a bid to send a clear message to Islamabad, Rubin said the targets of the over-the-horizon attack by the US should be those terrorists who believe their Pakistani residence or citizenship makes them immune from consequences.
( With inputs from ANI )
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