Disparity between Pak govt, army may weaken US-led war on terror

Lahore, Oct. 9 (ANI): As the Obama administration plans to seek a greater cooperation from the Pakistan Army for destroying Al Qaeda's safe havens in FATA, the difference between the Pakistani military and the Asif Ali Zardari government over the Kerry-Lugar Bill clauses has surfaced.

Recently, US officials had said that Washington was weighing a new role for Pakistan in the eight-year-old struggle in the region.

The new role for Pakistan came after the Obama administration concluded that the main threat to America's security came from Al Qaeda, which was based in Pakistan's tribal areas, not Afghanistan.

"We want to destroy its leadership, its infrastructure and its capability," The Dawn quoted one US official, as saying.

But unfortunately for the US, the paper says, the Pakistani military and the civil administration got entangled in a dispute over certain clauses of the Kerry-Lugar Bill.

According to Pakistani sources, the army blames Pakistan's ambassador to the United States for using his influence to incorporate a clause in the bill that will enable the Zardari government to appoint the next army chief.

In his book, Hussain Haqqani had said: "As an aid donor, Washington has become one of Pakistan's most important benefactors... the United States must use its aid as a lever to influence Pakistan's domestic policies."

Pakistani media and army believe that these beliefs are reflected in the bill. (ANI)