Some Partners

113

June 21, 2011

Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany) on 15 June 2011
by Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Sidonie Straughn-Morse. Edited by Mark DeLucas.

It was to be expected that the relationship between Pakistan and the United States would worsen after the commando action in Abbottabad and the killing of bin Laden. Pakistan felt deceived by its “partner,” Washington; America imagined the apparatus of power of its “partner,” Islamabad, as an accomplice to al-Qaida. Despite affirmations of a desire to continue to work together, mistrust and suspicion erode the foundation of this cooperation.

Thus the downward spiral continues: The latest twist is the capture of alleged Pakistani CIA informants, who supposedly participated in some way in the action in Abbottabad. The Obama administration must inevitably see this action as another unfriendly act. Does such an “ally” have a role in the War on Terror? In reality, for the Pakistani leadership, it is a question of rehabilitation. Yes, this latest attempt changes nothing about the ever decreasing trust that both their own population and America have toward the ruling powers of Islamabad.

Es war zu erwarten, dass sich das Verhältnis Pakistans zu den Vereinigten Staaten nach der Kommandoaktion in Abbottabad und der Tötung Bin Ladins weiter verschlechtern würde: Pakistan fühlte sich von seinem "Partner" Washington hintergangen; Amerika wähnt im Machtapparat seines "Partners" Islamabad Komplizen von Al Qaida. Ungeachtet der Beteuerungen, die Zusammenarbeit fortsetzen zu wollen, höhlen Misstrauen und der schlimme Verdacht die Grundlage dieser Zusammenarbeit aus.

Und so dreht sich die Abwärtsspirale weiter; die letzte Drehung ist die Verhaftung mutmaßlicher pakistanischer CIA-Informanten, die an der Aktion in Abbottabad in irgendeiner Form beteiligt gewesen sein sollen. Die Regierung Obama muss darin zwangsläufig den nächsten unfreundlichen Akt sehen. Handelt so ein "Verbündeter" im Antiterrorkampf? In Wahrheit geht es der pakistanischen Führung um ihre Rehabilitierung. Doch auch der jüngste Versuch ändert nichts daran, dass sowohl die eigene Bevölkerung als auch Amerika den Machthabern in Islamabad immer weniger Glauben schenken.

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