America's Pak problem

American legislators have begun moving on Pakistan-grown terror organisations by seeking to pass a defence policy bill that links military aid to Islamabad to certification by the US secretary of defence to Congress that Pakistan is taking action against the Haqqani network. This is, of course, welcome news in India, which has suffered terrorist violence aided by Pakistan.

The US House of Representatives has passed the National Defence Authorisation Act which seeks to block $450 million assistance to Pakistan. Though a Senate panel has approved the blocking of aid, the bill laid in the Senate differs in some respects and reduces the amount to $300 million. The move forward is small: the earlier Senate bill already required certification; the renewed Senate bill requires the defence secretary to appear before Congress and certify that Pakistan is really acting against the Haqqani network. Such efforts have been made in the past when the US has been compelled by its own laws to place such actions above the requirements of diplomacy and strategy. But these have often been stymied by executive action. In this case, the White House has already very clearly stated its objections.

The US has apparently drawn a new line in the sand, declaring it would carry out strikes against terrorists who operate against American interests while acting as proxies for Pakistan and the ISI. This is an opportunity for India to keep reminding the US of what the Haqqani network has done to US troops in Afghanistan and to stress the dangers the world face.