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Setting the Record Straight

Isolating Hamas Should Not Mean Isolating the People of Gaza

“The history of blockades by free nations is an honorable one. Israel’s blockade of Hamas-run Gaza—a blockade that … permits the delivery of humanitarian and civilian aid—stands in that tradition. It preserves a tenuous peace in the short run. And it may result in the liberation of Palestinians from Hamas’s dictatorship, and prevent their exploitation by a terror-supporting Iranian regime, in the longer run.”
—William Kristol, editor, The Weekly Standard, op-ed, “In Praise of Blockades,”versus
  • “Well, it's precisely the limitations of that [Gaza] policy that are now apparent. And what people like myself have been arguing for, now for the best part of two years, is that it is, of course, right that we make huge progress on the West Bank … but it's always been a mistaken belief that you push ahead in the West Bank and leave Gaza completely isolated. In the end, what you have to do is, even with the problems there with Hamas, you have to bring people in Gaza to understand that there is an alternative, it is a better way forward. But if they become completely isolated, the danger is not that they turn then towards a more sensible, more moderate path. The danger is then that extremism grows.”
    —Tony Blair, representative of the Middle East Quartet and former British prime minister, interview with Fareed Zakaria, CNN, June 6, 2010 

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    Event: October 1, 2009 - 12:00pm-1:00pm

    Introduction:
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    Moderated by:
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    Afghan and Pakistani representatives sign trade agreement (AP)

    Assessing the Situation in Pakistan

    By Bruce Riedel, chair of an interagency strategic review of U.S. Afghanistan and Pakistan policy completed March 2009; former adviser to four presidents on Afghanistan; senior fellow, The Brookings Institution. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

    You recently wrote that ‘Pakistan is our most important ally in the fight against Al Qaeda and its affiliates, and our most difficult ally.’ What did you mean by that?

    Pakistan is our most important ally because, after all, that is where most of the terrorists are. Pakistan is the epicenter of the global Islamic jihadist terrorist movement today. Not just Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, but groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which attacked Mumbai two years ago, the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistan Taliban. More Al Qaeda operatives have been killed or captured in Pakistan than anywhere else in the world.

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    Analysis

    A Season for Extensions

    The Daily Times, Editorial

    Prime Minister Gilani addressed the nation late night on Thursday for less than three minutes but made an announcement that kept everyone glued to their television screens. The prime minister, after consultations with President Zardari, gave a three-year extension to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. … The interesting aspect of this extension is that General Kayani’s term ends in 2013, the same year when the tenure of the current government and Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also comes

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    Afghanistan War Logs: Clandestine Aid for Taliban Bears Pakistan’s Fingerprints

    Declan Walsh (The Guardian)

    A stream of U.S. military intelligence reports accuse Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency of arming, training and financing the Taliban insurgency since 2004, the war logs reveal, bringing fresh scrutiny on one of the war’s most contentious issues. …

    But for all their eye-popping details, the intelligence files, which are mostly collated by junior officers relying on informants and Afghan officials, fail to provide a convincing smoking gun for ISI complicity. Most of the reports are vague, filled with incongruent

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    Neighboring Countries Wary of Thaw in Afghan-Pakistan Relations

    Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Washington Post)

    Recent moves by Afghanistan and Pakistan to improve their once-frosty relationship have prompted deep concern in other countries in the region and led some to consider strengthening ties to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s political rivals.

    The U.S. government considers the Afghan-Pakistan overtures essential to combating insurgencies racking both nations. But India, Iran and Afghanistan’s northern neighbors fear that they are a step toward fulfilling Karzai’s desire to negotiate with Taliban leaders and possibly welcome some of them into the government.

    These nations

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    News

    Heard on the Street

    Concerns Remain, But Improvements Are Significant

    Ike Skelton, chairman, House Armed Services Committee, statement, July 26, 2010:

    “These leaked documents, while troubling, appear to support what I was asserting for years: the war in Afghanistan was not going well, and we needed a real strategy for success. For nearly a decade under the previous administration, our brave war fighters were under-resourced and lacked the direction of a clear strategy. Under the new counterinsurgency strategy implemented earlier this year, we now have the pieces in place to turn things around. These leaked reports pre-date our new strategy in Afghanistan and should not be used as a measure of success or a determining factor in our continued mission there.

    “Additionally, some of these documents implicate Pakistan in aiding the Taliban and fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan. It is critical that we not use outdated reports to paint a picture of the cooperation of Pakistan in our efforts in Afghanistan. Since these reports were issued, Pakistan has significantly stepped up its fight against the Taliban, including efforts that led to the capture of the highest ranking member of the Taliban since the start of the war. The Pakistani military has also been in combat for more than a year against its country’s own Taliban, which is aligned with al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban attacking American forces and our NATO allies. While we still have concerns about Pakistan’s efforts against the Afghan Taliban, there is no doubt that there have been significant improvements in its overall effort.”

    Background Basics

    Important Aspects of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement

    Afghanistan and Pakistan signed the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) on July 18 with U.S. encouragement, spearheaded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who recently visited the region. Pakistan estimates that the agreement could increase trade between the two countries to $5 billion from the current $1 billion. U.S. officials say that the agreement will reduce transit costs between the two countries by half, lower import costs and make exports more competitive, improving employment opportunities

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