Why the US has stopped saying "do more" to Pakistan?
How often have you heard the US saying, "Pakistan should do more on terror?" It has become an everyday kind of statement and instead of "doing more," Pakistan has always asked, " what more do we need to do.
In this context it is very interesting to read the Hillary Clinton emails on Pakistan. The Hillary Clinton emails released on Monday have been a subject matter of debate as she had sent them on an account using a private server at her home.
The US state department released 4,000 pages of Hillary's emails which were sent when she was secretary of state.
The "do more" comment
The reactions to Pakistan and terrorism have an interesting cycle. India is attacked by a Pakistani terrorist which leads to complaining by the Indian officials. The immediate reaction from the United States of America is," Pakistan should "do more," on terrorism.
The mail that was released states, " whenever we (US) use the phrase, "do more," to ask Pakistan to do more on terrorism, Pakistanis use it to tell their people, " after so much cost and so many losses and so many bombs in our cities, the Americans are telling us we are still not doing enough."
The mails state that the PakMil (Pakistan military) uses the phrase used by the US to convince the Pakistanis that the US is a malign influence and to avoid taking the steps we seek."
In response to this the Clinton aide suggests that she should be briefed to avoid using the word, "do more." Instead the words, " do not hesitate to specify what we want them to do," should be used.
No longer asking Pakistan to "do more"
The advise seems to have paid off and the US today does not use the phrase, "do more." Instead they are asking Pakistan to specify what they intend to do or what the US wants them do. The recent visit by the National Security Advisor of US, Susan Rice to Islamabad did not see the use of the phrase, "do more."
Susan Rice instead told the Pakistanis to intensify its efforts to counter terrorist sanctuaries.
This is today the US policy on Pakistan while speaking of terrorism. How much of a difference does it make? Indian analysts say that not much while also adding that the changing of the phrase is only symbolic.
Paksitan's military very often used the phrase, "do more," and interpreted it in their own way. They used it to go to the Pakistanis and ask, " how much more do we need to do?"
Today they will have deal with the specific issues if they want to and not make any excuses in the wake of this "do more," phrase not being used anymore.