"In an age of nuclear proliferation and mass refugee flows caused by terrorism, there must be a new principle of zero-tolerance for state-sponsored terrorism. This includes what I would call “mediate state-sponsored terrorism” designed for plausible deniability by being once- or twice-removed from terrorist violence. Democratic and peaceful states must demonstrate to terrorists and their state sponsors: there will be no more business as usual."
Why is the U.S. Congress even considering any more financial aid to Pakistan, much less tripling it?
G7 Plus India And Afghanistan: Lead Economic Sanctions Against Pakistan
By Anders Corr
F26 February 2017
Forbes
Yesterday the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), led by the G7 countries, put Pakistan on a three-month warning regarding terrorist financing. If Pakistan fails to comply with necessary actions against terrorism, it could become a virtual no-go zone for international banking. Last week, an Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs official threatened to seek U.N. sanctions against Pakistan for supporting Taliban terrorists. India should also seek U.N. sanctions for Pakistan’s support of terrorists targeting India, including in Kashmir. Such sanctions should be pursued immediately, with the help of G7 countries , and especially major importers from Pakistan: the U.S., U.K., and Germany.
China and Russia will oppose sanctions, but should understand that standing in the way could make them complicit in terrorism.
The sanctions should target businesses associated with the elements of Pakistan’s military and intelligence services that support terrorism. Targeted sanctions will maximize the likelihood of success, and decrease their impact on innocent Pakistani citizens, who are also victims of Pakistan-based terrorism. While terrorist attack fatalities in Pakistan have decreased since 2013 (see graph below), they have increased in Afghanistan over the same period. From this data, it appears that Pakistan-based terrorists are now redirecting their efforts to Afghanistan, which is seen as ripe for the picking as NATO withdraws.
The biggest democratic economies should not only support targeted sanctions to protect Afghanistan and India, but lead in pushing for their adoption. India and Afghanistan will not have the power at the U.N. to get the votes necessary to impose international sanctions. Nor will their market power allow them to impose unilateral sanctions. However, the top democratic importers from Pakistan will be particularly persuasive, and should lend sanctions their full logistic and diplomatic support at the United Nations. Democratic importers from Pakistan, in order of magnitude, are the United States, Germany, the U.K., Afghanistan, France, Spain, and Italy. As importers, these countries will have the best chance for influence on Pakistani businesses, which will in turn have the greatest influence on Pakistan’s military and intelligence services.
Pakistan’s most important ally and authoritarian importer, China, will oppose sanctions. Russia, which supports the Taliban, will also oppose sanctions. But these authoritarian countries can only prove their commitment to counter global terrorism by taking tough measures: naming Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism, and economically sanctioning Pakistani companies linked to military and intelligence services. Failing to do so risks obstructionism and categorization as state-sponsors of terrorism themselves.
In an age of nuclear proliferation and mass refugee flows caused by terrorism, there must be a new principle of zero-tolerance for state-sponsored terrorism. This includes what I would call “mediate state-sponsored terrorism” designed for plausible deniability by being once- or twice-removed from terrorist violence. Democratic and peaceful states must demonstrate to terrorists and their state sponsors: there will be no more business as usual.
Pakistan-supported terrorism against civilians in Afghanistan puts into question why the U.S. plans to triple its $300 million of foreign aid to Pakistan in 2016 (which was not disbursed because Pakistan failed to act against the Haqqani terrorists), to $900 million in 2017 ($450 million of which is contingent on actions against the Haqqani).
[END REPORT]
********
No comments:
Post a Comment