NOREF - An anvil of clay: Pakistan’s military balks at Obama’s Afghan surge

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Robert Matthews

is a consultant on Afghanistan, Pakistan and US foreign policy with the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre (Noref) in Oslo. He holds a PhD in Latin American history from New York University. A former professor of history and politics at New York University, Matthews has been a researcher on United St...
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An anvil of clay: Pakistan’s military balks at Obama’s Afghan surge

Robert Matthews , 12 January 2010

Pakistan’s cooperation is crucial to the success of the current US and Nato strategy in Afghanistan. Yet the Pakistani military not only has misgivings about the Nato surge but also its own agenda. Central to the discord is the military’s view of the Afghan Taliban as assets to counter rival India’s spreading Afghan footprint.

The military views the US surge and the 18-month timeframe as acts of desperation by the Obama administration – as well as a vindication of Pakistan’s strategy of keeping its options open through a “selective counter-insurgency approach”. Thus, there is little indication that Pakistan is willing to undertake campaigns against militants in the tribal areas. Or play the role of anvil to the US hammer along the Afghan-Pakistani border.