Pak used terror as a hedge against India: Clinton

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Nov 13 (PTI) Islamabad used to support terror
outfits as a hedge against India and an unfriendly Afghan
regime, so that the two neighbours of Pakistan do not
undermine it, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
"They (Pakistan) have in the past hedged against both
India and an unfriendly regime in Afghanistan by supporting
groups that will be their proxies in trying to prevent either
India or an unfriendly Afghan Government from undermining
their position," she said.
Clinton said now things are "changing", but she cannot
confirm whether Pakistan has stopped the use of terror against
India and Afghanistan.
"That is changing... Now, I cannot sit here and tell you
that it has changed, but that is changing," she told ABC News
in an interview, the transcripts of which was released by the
State Department.
Clinton accepted that US had created certain radical
outfits and supported terrorists like Osama bin Laden to fight
against the erstwhile Soviet Union, but that backing has
boomeranged.
"Part of what we are fighting against right now, the
United States created. We created the Mujahidin force against
the Soviet Union (in Afghanistan). We trained them, we
equipped them, we funded them, including somebody named Osama
bin Laden.
"And it didn't work out so well for us," she said.
The Secretary of the State also said Pakistan is paying a
"big price" for supporting US war against terror groups in
their own national interest.
"But I think it is important to note that as they have
made these adjustments in their own assessment of their
national interests, they're paying a big price for it,"
Clinton said.
"And it's not an easy calculation for them to make. But
we are making progress (in Afghanistan). We have a long way to
go and we can't be impatient...Well, the headlines are bad.
We're going home. We cannot do that," she said.
Appearing on the same ABC show, Secretary of Defence
Robert Gates said Pakistan has withdrawn an equivalent of
about six divisions of its army from the Indian border and
moved them.
"And they are attacking the Taliban. They're attacking
the Taliban –- Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, and safe havens that
are a problem for us," Gates said.
"But the other piece of this, we face in both countries
what they call a trust deficit, and it is because they believe
we have walked away from them in the past at the toughest
moments of their history.
"You can't recreate that (trust) in a heartbeat. You
can't recreate that in a year or two. They both worry that
once we solve the problem in Afghanistan, or if we don't solve
it, that either way, we will leave and leave whatever remains
in their hands to deal with," he added. PTI LKJ
HMI