All eyes on Obama now

“Osama bin Laden sleeps with the fishes” — a sign at a music store in Oklahoma City — captures the sense of jubilation. Nearly 10 years after 9/11 came the news that the “mass murderer” was taken out in a fire-fight in Pakistan by US Special Forces and eventually tossed from an aircraft carrier in the Northern Arabian Sea to a watery grave.

It is not merely the death of a reviled personality who was responsible for taking the lives of thousands in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

In one stroke it has also raised disturbing questions of what is ahead on the terror front; the impact of the bloody raid in other parts of the world, especially the Middle East and, above all, on a so-called US ally — Pakistan.

Candidate Barack Obama in 2007 set off a furious debate in the political establishment as well as within Pakistan when he said that his administration will take the fight into Pakistan, issues of sovereignty notwithstanding. “There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. . . . If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will.”

And that was exactly what happened on May 1, much to the protestations and embarrassment of leaders and politicians there.

QUESTIONS ABOUT PAKISTAN

There has always been apprehension about Pakistan's position in the fight against terror — whether it is a willing ally in the fight, or whether it is trying to have it both ways. When the dust clears, and when all the small details of the operation get played out, the Obama administration will come under tremendous pressure to wind up the show. One of the things that Washington should think about is what it wants to do with Pakistan.

In all the hoopla about Islamabad being an “ally” in the war against terror, the Obama administration did not give Islamabad the benefit of the doubt.

Here was Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad, a military garrison area, just a short distance away from the capital and said to have been living in the place presumably for four years!

The argument dished out from Islamabad — and mimicked by its minions in Washington — that a distinction would have to be made between “private support” and “government” backing does not cut much ice in the United States, both in official and private circles.

The intelligence community in the United States harboured deep suspicions of Pakistan's ISI, its links to terrorist groups in particular.

Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan maintained that it was “inconceivable” that bin Laden did not have a support system in Pakistan that allowed him to remain there for a long period of time.

“People are raising a number of questions, and understandably so. I'm sure a number of people have questions about whether there was some kind of support provided by the Pakistani government,” he said.

The Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin, remarked “I think the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer, given the location, the length of time, and apparent fact that this facility was actually built for bin Laden.”

And Sen Joseph Lieberman, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said: “This is going to be a time of real pressure on the Pakistanis to make clear to us that they didn't know that bin Laden was there.”

Washington has been reminded many times that Pakistan is a “weak” ally in the war against terror, if it is to be considered as an “ally” at all. And the past week proved that Pakistan is neither an “ally” nor a serious partner. How else can one explain its being kept out of the loop, in spite of the preposterous initial claim of being privy to the goings on?

WAY AHEAD FOR OBAMA

The Obama administration faces a stark choice now on what lies ahead in this war against terrorism. It is one of either staying the course, or making a determined move to map a strategy that comes to terms with ground realities.

For a very long time, out of so-called strategic compulsions, administrations in Washington have been reluctant to accept the state of play in South Asia and Afghanistan, particularly as it pertains to terrorism.

President Obama now has the rare chance to stay focused and clean up the act in Pakistan, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and in Afghanistan. Failing to do so and taking the eye off the ball would mean that this Democratic President would also have squandered away the opportunity that his Republican predecessor had.

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