Pakistan Security Brief

U.S. and Pakistan sign memorandum of understanding regulating NATO use of Pakistan’s supply routes to Afghanistan; U.S. reportedly “one major attack away” from unilateral action against Haqqani Network in Pakistan; U.S. State Department report criticizes Pakistan’s blasphemy laws; High-levles of anti-Americanism in Pakistan hurting effectiveness of U.S. aid to the country; ISI chief Zahirul Islam to push for end to U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan at meeting with CIA Director David Patraeus ; Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad says contempt law has flaws that warrant the court’s involvement; Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik meets with Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Raza Haghighian in Tehran; Taliban pleased with Pakistan’s decision to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

NATO Supply Routes

• Pakistani Defense Ministry official Rear Adm. Farrokh Ahmed and U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Richard Hoagland signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday that will allow NATO forces to use Pakistan’s supply routes into Afghanistan until December 31, 2015. Signed at a ceremony in Rawalpindi, the MoU formalizes the U.S. commitment to distribute $1.1 billion to Pakistan as Coalition Support Fund (CSF) reimbursement payments and provides both parties the option of extending the deadline in one-year intervals beyond the end of 2015. The agreement bans the transport of arms and ammunition into Afghanistan, excepting those destined for the Afghan National Army. The MoU also lays out specific security measures Pakistan will provide for the thousands of container trucks and oil tankers travelling through the country from the port of Karachi. Under the new agreement, local police would provide security along the supply routes until convoys reach the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan, where the Frontier Corps would then take responsibility.[1]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• A senior U.S. official has said it is a commonly held view within the current administration that the U.S. is “one major attack away from unilateral action against Pakistan.”  Speaking to the New York Times, the official added that attacks by the Haqqani Network that result in the deaths of a large number of U.S. troops or diplomats in the region “would be the game changer.” The official’s comments come a week after the Haqqani Network released a video showing a suicide truck explosion at a U.S. forward operating base in Salerno in southern Afghanistan that resulted in the death of two soldiers. While the White House did not take direct military action against the Haqqani Network in response to the attack, U.S. officials said a series of interagency meetings after the attack resulted in a list of 30 possible responses ranging from diplomatic changes to American or Afghan commando raids. Although Pakistan’s Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani reportedly promised to launch a three-phase military operation against the militant group in June, U.S. officials are skeptical that any significant operation will take place.[2]

• Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Sherry Rehman met with U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the sub-committee for Defense Appropriations, in Washington on Tuesday. Ambassador Rehman emphasized the importance of Pakistan’s relationship with the U.S. and welcomed the recent reopening of the Ground Lines of Communications (GLOCs). Senator Inouye noted his commitment to further strengthening U.S.-Pakistan relations.[3]

• On Monday, the U.S. State Department released a report on religious freedoms criticizing Pakistan’s use of blasphemy laws as a measure to “restrict religious liberty.” The report, which mainly focused on how religious freedoms were affected by the 2011 Arab Spring, noted that blasphemy laws “limit freedom of expression” and “exacerbate tensions” in countries with violent attacks against religious minorities occur regularly.[4]

• According to a Center for Global Development report, high levels of anti-Americanism in Pakistan are decreasing the effectiveness of U.S. aid programs in the country. The report, released on Monday, drew upon the Pew Global Attitudes Project that found that about 74 percent of Pakistanis viewed the U.S. as an enemy. The report urges the U.S. to work in collaboration with the World Bank and recommends extending U.S. non-military aid to Pakistan authorized under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, which authorized $1.5 billion a year over five years.[5]

Drone Strikes

• On Monday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that Pakistan would push for the cessation of U.S. drone strikes during Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Zahirul Islam’s upcoming meeting with CIA director David Petraeus in Washington. As an alternative, Islam is expected to propose that the U.S. provide intelligence information to Pakistani law enforcement agencies, who would then assume responsibility for taking out targets. According to an unnamed U.S. official, however, the U.S. has no plans to halt its drone program and believes that Pakistan has yet to show “the capability—or willingness—to take effective action” in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).[6]

Domestic Politics

• During the contempt law hearing on Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that parliament had the right to craft necessary laws, but that the contempt of court law contained flaws that warranted the court’s involvement. Chaudhry was responding to claims made by the federal government’s counsel that the law did not restrict the judiciary’s power.[7]

• On Sunday, President Asif Ali Zardari told a gathering in Khairpur that the current political situation in Pakistan would not hinder the election schedule, that the elections would be “free and fair,” and that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would again succeed with a huge majority.[8]

International Relations

• Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik met with Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Ali Raza Haghighian in Islamabad on Tuesday. Interior Minister Malik stressed the importance of Pakistan-Iran relations while Ambassador Raza said that Iran would make a strong effort to enhance the country’s bilateral relationship with Pakistan. The meeting in Islamabad comes as chairman of Pakistan’s Senate Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari is scheduled to travel to Tehran on Thursday to discuss regional issues with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.[9]

• Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul Muhammad Sadiq has invited political leaders from the former Northern Alliance to visit Pakistan. According to The Express Tribune, the political leaders will accompany Salahuddin Rabbani, the head of the High Peace Council (HPC) and son of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul last year. Though no date has been set, an official noted that Rabbani and his Tajik and Uzbek counterparts will likely travel to Pakistan in late August or early September.[10]

Militancy

• The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Taliban fighters were pleased with Pakistan’s decision to reopen the NATO supply route. According to the report, Taliban insurgents received millions of dollars from private security firms operating in Afghanistan in exchange for not attacking trucks transporting NATO supplies. A Taliban commander observed that Pakistan’s closing of the NATO supply route impacted the organization’s earnings, effectively weakening the insurgency. Although such payoffs occur in Pakistan as well, fewer Pakistani trucks are targeted by militants and, as a result, fewer Pakistani truck companies resort to paying off insurgents. The U.S. military estimated that $360 million in U.S. tax dollars went to the Taliban, criminals, and power brokers last year, though it claims that only a fraction of that figure actually reached the Taliban.[11]  

• On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a jeep near Shah Noor Bridge in Takht Bhai, killing four people. The incident took place within the jurisdiction of Sahro Shah Police Station.[12] 

• Separate acts of violence in Karachi left three people, including a policeman, dead on Monday. Firing incidents took place in the SITE, Landhi, and Pehlwan Goth areas, killing three people and injuring another.[13]