USA et Pakistan, entre crise et crise

USA et Pakistan, entre crise et crise

Patrick Martin, du site WSWS.org, concentre une analyse du 19 août 2010 sur la façon dont les USA, et le gouvernement pakistanais lui-même, réagissent et agissent devant la crise des inondations massives au Pakistan. L’analyse est intéressante en raison des liens entre les deux pays, des troubles au niveau de la sécurité avec les relations entre le conflit en Afghanistan et la situation de sécurité du Pakistan, de l’importance que les USA accordent au Pakistan dans ce contexte général.

Clairement, pour les deux pays, pour les USA du point de vue stratégique, pour le gouvernement pakistanais du point de vue de la stabilité intérieure, la même situation est appréciée prioritairement du point de vue de la sécurité. L’aspect humanitaire et la question du lien entre cette catastrophe et la crise climatique sont absolument secondaires.

«In a front-page analysis Wednesday, the Washington Post wrote: “Staggered by the scale of destruction from this summer’s catastrophic floods, Pakistani officials have begun to acknowledge that the country’s security could be gravely affected if more international aid does not arrive soon.”

» “All those factors have the potential to further destabilize a nation undermined by weak governance and a vicious insurgency even before the crisis,” the newspaper added.

»A Pakistani military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, told the Post, “There are already signs that people are restive. If not addressed, it could balloon and will create a security situation in the areas where the government has not taken care of people’s needs.”

»US Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrived in Pakistan Wednesday after a previously planned visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, and declared his concern that the flooding could destabilize the Pakistani regime and create an opening for Islamic fundamentalist groups allied with the Taliban.

»In a sign of the priorities of both Washington and Islamabad, the Pakistani military has not deployed any active-duty troops on flood relief, using only reserves and troops assigned to training, rather than military operations.

»For the US government, the leading aid donor with a derisory $90 million—one one-thousandth of the amount expended this year on the war in neighboring Afghanistan—the principal concern is the potential repercussions in the border region, the target of relentless US missile strikes even during the worst of the flooding.

»The commandant of the US Marine Corps, General James T. Conway, called on Pakistan’s army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, at general headquarters in Rawalpindi Wednesday. While Conway brought perfunctory condolences on the flooding, the Pakistani press said that “during the course of the meeting with General James T. Conway they discussed issues pertaining to national security, war against terrorism, defense needs, etc. at length.”»

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