For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had the dubious honor of being the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. After the State Department released the most recent State Department “Country Reports on Terrorism,” Nathan Sales, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, told reporters: “[Iran] brings to its terrorist activities the resources of a state,” adding, “Iran uses terrorism as a tool of its statecraft.”
While the Iranian regime deserves American and international opprobrium for its terror support, Pakistan is increasingly giving Iran a run for its money in terms of terror sponsorship.
On Oct. 15, 2018, militants from Jaish ul-Adl, a Pakistan-based Salafi group, overran Iran’s main border post with Pakistan, kidnapping 12 Iranian servicemen. Just four months later, a suicide bomber drove a car bomb into an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troop transport, killing 27. The Iranian government, probably rightly, also blamed that attack on Jaish ul-Adl. The odiousness of the Iranian regime does not excuse terrorism against it. After all, the Iranian targets were not operating in a combat capacity at the time of the attack, nor were the Pakistani perpetrators insurgents waging low-intensity conflict. Rather, the motivation for Jaish ul-Adl was sectarian hatred.
This year, Pakistani-backed terrorists have taken their terrorism to a new level. On Jan. 22, 2019, Taliban terrorists supported by Pakistan attacked an Afghan army camp in Wardak and killed more than 120.
Then, the day after Jaish ul-Adl’s latest attack on Iran, a member of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group attacked a police convoy in Indian Kashmir, killing 40 in the town of Pulwama. Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. That attack, of course, is just the latest in a long line of Pakistani-based terrorists attacking inside India. In just the past three years, there have been at least seven major attacks on Indian targets by Pakistan–based terrorists.
Through the years, of course, Pakistan often promised diplomats that it would be a responsible partner and would crack down on terrorism. Simply put, authorities in Islamabad have repeatedly lied. Prominent ministers and allies of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well as his brother Shehbaz Sharif openly rallied with banned militants.
The official Pakistani reaction has been disingenuous. Prime Minister Imran Khan says Pakistan will take action against terrorists if India can show proof that the terrorists had any relationship to Pakistan. Put aside the fact that a Pakistan-based group claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Khan’s demand for “proof” mirrors that of the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar when faced with demands to extradite al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 1998 East Africa bombing. At that time, the State Department bent over backwards to provide proof. Nothing was good enough for the Taliban, however, and, ultimately, a Taliban court dismissed the American evidence and acquitted bin Laden. The rest is history.
Rather than indulge the fiction that Pakistan truly wants evidence, it is crucial to recognize that Islamabad wants only to obfuscate and delay. It behooves not only Pakistan’s neighbors, but also the United States to take a no-nonsense approach to Imran Khan and the entirety of the government over which he presides.
Any support for Pakistani counterterrorism efforts is wasted. Islamabad is no more sincere about countering extremism or ceasing support for terrorists than is Tehran. While no administration has any illusions about Iran, it is amazing how many in the U.S. government fall for the Pakistani government’s extortion racket: demand money to fight terrorists but never defeat them for fear of ceasing the gravy train.
Pakistan’s continued support for terrorism mandates a more serious response: Full designation as a state sponsor of terror, sanctions targeting Imran Khan and every commander in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, commitment to enhance India’s qualitative military edge, downgrading relations, and closure of all U.S. consulates outside Islamabad.
What happened in Pulwama has, unfortunately, become the rule rather than the exception for Pakistan. It is time all civilized countries hold Pakistan to account.
Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.
