Pakistan Taliban Support Rewarded By Lugar-Kerry Bill
Arguing in favor of his Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund Act, S. 3665, Senator Richard Lugar said this week that “the need for our governments to work together to neutralize the imminent threats posed by terrorist waiting to strike, while simultaneously preventing the cancer of extremism from spreading and corrupting local communities in both our countries.”
Lugar’s introduction of the Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund Act, however, comes on the heels of revelations, in the form of U.S. government documents released through Wikileaks, about an ongoing relationship between the government of Pakistan and the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was known, of course, that the Taliban had been a client of the government of Pakistan before the American invasion in 2001. The newly leaked documents reveal, however, that Pakistan continues to support the Taliban in Afghanistan to this day, even supporting the capability of Taliban fighters to attack U.S. soldiers.
In Pakistan, the business community cannot clearly be separated from the government, given that the Pakistani military runs powerful commercial enterprises. American efforts to support the business community in Pakistan would therefore indirectly, but powerfully, provide financial support to the government of Pakistan – above and beyond what the U.S. already provides.
Why has Richard Lugar chosen this time, when the Pakistani government has been caught helping extremists who kill Americans, to introduce legislation to assist the Pakistani government and business community? Why has John Kerry come forward as the leading Democratic co-sponsor of the bill?
Senator Kerry says that the Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund Act is needed to create jobs – in Pakistan: “Pakistan’s private sector is suffering from a lack of capital due in large part to the political and security concerns on the ground. The United States can help the Pakistani private sector provide jobs,” Kerry says.
In a time when millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs in the United States, and many senators – including Richard Lugar – have voted against extending unemployment benefits for Americans, why should the USA devote its resources to the creation of jobs in Pakistan. Economically and militarily, the Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund Act is contrary to the national interest of the United States.
Is he totally crazy!! You aren’t going to trust anything Pakistan says, I hope. We need to get out of Afghanistan and Iraq and never look back. It is a lost cause that will continue for years. We need to get on with returning America to the great nation she was.
I just noticed that Kerry was in on this nutty idea too. Please get your heads out and either care about the U.S. people or leave.