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Riedel: U.S. Needs to Tread Carefully in Pakistan

Bruce Riedel, a former high-ranking CIA and Pentagon official, says the United States faces a very frustrating situation in Pakistan, and that the recent U.S. cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan is risky given the anti-Americanism in Pakistan.

By experts and staff

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  • Bruce O. Riedel
    Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution
  • Bernard Gwertzman
    Visiting Fellow

In recent days there’ve been a number of reports about U.S. drones hitting al-Qaeda targets within Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan. And more recently, there have been reports of Navy Seals going into Pakistan, staying a few hours on the ground killing many Taliban or al-Qaeda operatives, and then being flown out by helicopters. Are these cross-border attacks good or bad in the longer run for the United States? What do you think?

It’s seemingly a very difficult dilemma, I think, for American policymakers. You would think by now the Pakistani military would be happy for help on this issue, but what is preventing them from working with the United States on this?

It was reported that the Pakistani head of the army met with U.S. officials on an aircraft carrier not too long ago. Presumably, they must have discussed this kind of action.

There seems to be a growing consensus among U.S. strategic thinkers that the war in Afghanistan is being lost right now. And that’s why I suppose the desire to hit targets in Pakistan is so strong at this moment. There’s going to be a new president in the United States in a few months. What do you think that eitherSen. John McCainorSen. Barack Obamacan do about this situation?

Durand Line

I didn’t realize that was still a live issue.

I thought it was a problem for the Afghanis.

Of course the Pakistanis are also unhappy about their other border which is in Kashmir, which is a hot bed right now as well.

I’ve noticed that at President Zardari’s inauguration the other day, his honored guest was President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Does that mean anything special?

I guess it’s a truism that the civilian government in Pakistan, having gone through all these problems to get where they are now, has virtually no control over their military and the intelligence services, right?

Do you see any threat of another military coup?

Just to sum up here. I think what you’re saying is that the United States should be extremely cautious about repeating the cross-border activity, at least in the last months of this administration until we can get a new dialogue started. Am I reading you correctly?