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Continued U.S. aid to Pakistan is both "naive" and "counterproductive"
given that nation's backing for a terrorist network targeting American
forces and working to destabilize Afghanistan, Republican U.S. Sen. Mark
Kirk said Tuesday.
Kirk, returning from a two-week Navy Reserve stint in Afghanistan
participating in counternarcotics intelligence, suggested that the
United States should enter talks with India to help make up for the
departure of U.S. military forces and money from Afghanistan.
Asked if creating an alliance with India would turn Pakistan into an
enemy against the United States, Kirk replied: "I think they already
are. They are clinging to that last bit of support to the U.S.
government to do operations against a very limited number of terrorist
targets."
Kirk said Pakistan's intelligence network has backed and granted haven
to the Haqqani terrorist network, an organization he said is now more
powerful than al-Qaida. The Haqqani has attacked Americans and is a
major threat to Afghanistan, Kirk said, adding that Pakistani government
officials who deny backing the terrorist network are telling "direct
lies to the American people."
Kirk said it costs $11 billion a year to back up Afghanistan's military
and police forces, which are preparing for a U.S. military withdrawal.
He said President Barack Obama could "thread the needle artfully on
Afghanistan" by withdrawing U.S. troops over time while urging India to
pick up the financial slack.
In his remarks to the Tribune editorial board, Kirk also said he didn't
believe tea party activists would push Republicans' choice of a
presidential nominee too far to the right and said his "gut" tells him
the race is down to Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov.
Mitt Romney.
Kirk, who is not endorsing a contender at this point, is heading up a
statewide Republican fundraising effort with a presidential straw poll
one year out from the general election. The contest for GOP presidential
nominee remains fluid with each new entrant quickly rising to the top
before falling, he said.
"Right now, it's Perry. I take it more seriously because he is a
big-state governor," Kirk said. "But my gut is this is largely a two-man
race right now and the other candidates will sort out."
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