Warning message

Pakistan has warned the United States to stop publicly accusing Islamabad of exporting violence to Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was responding to comments by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who alleged that Pakistan's top spy agency, the ISI, was closely linked to the Haqqani network, the most violent and effective grouping among Islamist Taliban militants in Afghanistan. The Haqqani group claims to have some 4,000 fighters.

Speaking to Pakistan's Geo TV in New York, where she is attending the UN General Assembly, Khar told the US: "You will lose an ally". She added that Washington could not afford to alienate Pakistan, could not afford to alienate the Pakistani people. If Washington chose to do so, it would be at the United States' own cost.

That the ISI has links with the Haqqani network is the most serious allegation levelled by the United States against nuclear-armed and Muslim-majority Pakistan since they began an alliance in the war on terror a decade ago.

Mullen, speaking in Senate testimony, alleged Haqqani operatives launched an attack last week on the US embassy in Kabul at the instigation of Pakistan's military intelligence service.

In a separate interview with India's NDTV, Khar added that the blame game would not help. She described Pakistan as a responsible country that is fighting terrorism with a lot of maturity.

The tensions between Washington and Islamabad are likely to have serious repercussions across Asia, from India, Pakistan's economically booming arch-rival, to China, which has edged closer to Pakistan in recent years.

A complete break between the United States and Pakistan appears unlikely, if only because Washington depends on Pakistan as a route to supply US troops fighting militants in Afghanistan, and as a base for unmanned US drones.

Mutual blame game

Pakistan relies on Washington for military and economic aid and for acting as a backer on the world stage. But support in the US Congress for curbing assistance or making conditions on aid more stringent has risen dramatically in recent days. The unilateral US Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May took already fragile relations between Pakistan and the United States to the brink.

Relations were just starting to recover before the Kabul attack. Both sides are now engaged in an unusually blunt and unprecedented public war of words. The price could be high for both governments. Pakistan risks further destablization if US aid is reduced or cut off. Washington - keen to maintain the stability of the country and the security of its nuclear weapons - needs Pakistan in its rivalry with China in South Asia. Moreover, Pakistan is a key ally in Washington's efforts to combat Islamist terror in Afghanistan.

Recently Mullen, CIA director David Petraeus and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all met with their Pakistani counterparts to demand Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network.

Author: Marina Joarder (Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Grahame Lucas