{"id":1283,"date":"2010-07-06T23:47:56","date_gmt":"2010-07-07T03:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harvardnsj.com\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2010-07-06T23:47:56","modified_gmt":"2010-07-07T03:47:56","slug":"the-american-commitment-in-afghanistan-and-pakistans-effort-to-broker-a-deal-between-karzai-and-the-haqqani-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/2010\/07\/the-american-commitment-in-afghanistan-and-pakistans-effort-to-broker-a-deal-between-karzai-and-the-haqqani-network\/","title":{"rendered":"The American Commitment in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Efforts as Peace Broker"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>In the wake of Gen. Stanley McChrystal\u2019s dismissal, questions linger<\/a> about the trajectory of the American-led war in Afghanistan. While administration officials insist that McChrystal\u2019s counterinsurgency strategy\u2014formulated with the help of his successor, Gen. David Petraeus\u2014will remain in place under the latter\u2019s leadership, the incident underscored for many the fragility of the Afghan operation as it enters its ninth year.\u00a0 Pakistani officials have recently stepped up their efforts<\/a> to broker a peace accord between Hamid Karzai\u2019s Afghan government and the network of Sirajuddin Haqqani.\u00a0 The impetus for such negotiations is what some Pakistani officials see to be \u201cincreasing American uncertainty\u201d in the war effort.\u00a0 In light of that perceived weakness and lack of commitment, Pakistan may be gesturing the possibility of a stronger partnership with Hamid Karzai.<\/p>\n

Pakistani officials claim to be able to deliver the network of Haqqani, a group affiliated with Al Qaeda, into a power-sharing arrangement.\u00a0 According to the report, negotiations have been underway for some time, with Pakistan\u2019s Army Chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the nation\u2019s spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, conducting shuttle diplomacy between Islamabad and Kabul.\u00a0 But the lack of details given to Washington raises concern in some U.S. circles that the negotiations will not only push Karzai further away, but conclude with a separate peace between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Taliban, leaving American interests to the side and Al Qaeda a base from which to operate.<\/p>\n

Some, including President Obama and CIA Director Leon Panetta, are more skeptical that a peace can be reached in the near term.\u00a0 While Pakistani intelligence and military officials claim the Haqqanis are willing to break with Al Qaeda, many believe that the relationship is too close, and that the negotiations are simply a way of fending off impending military action in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.\u00a0 While he acknowledged that progress in Afghanistan has been coming more slowly than anticipated, Panetta opined<\/a> on television that the U.S. has \u201cseen no evidence that [the Taliban] are truly interested in reconciliation.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, because of that very lack of progress, many American officials believe the Taliban have no motivation to negotiate seriously, and that they won\u2019t until they fear a military defeat.\u00a0 President Obama also expressed skepticism, and stressed the varied makeup of the organization, warning that it was \u201ctoo early to tell\u201d whether the efforts being made to broker a peace accord were genuine.\u00a0 Administration officials worry that the Haqqani network will be unwilling or unable to break from its more radical elements.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in an interview that emphasized the potentially varied markup of the coalition forces, the head of the British army, Gen. Sir David Richards, said on BBC Radio<\/a> this past weekend that talks with the Taliban should start \u201cpretty soon.\u201d\u00a0 Whether Richards\u2019 view represents a substantive disagreement with his American counterparts\u2019 is unclear.\u00a0 The beginning of operations in Kandahar should bring some clarity, if not to the war, at least to the various parties\u2019 understanding of how to move forward diplomatically.<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Gen. Stanley McChrystal\u2019s dismissal, questions linger about the trajectory of the American-led war in Afghanistan. While administration officials insist that McChrystal\u2019s counterinsurgency strategy\u2014formulated with the help of his successor, Gen. David Petraeus\u2014will remain in place under the latter\u2019s leadership, the incident underscored for many the fragility of the Afghan operation as it enters its ninth year.\u00a0 Pakistani officials have recently stepped up their efforts to broker a peace accord between Hamid Karzai\u2019s Afghan government and the network of Sirajuddin Haqqani.\u00a0 The impetus for such negotiations is what some Pakistani officials see to be \u201cincreasing American uncertainty\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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