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Local support for dreaded Islamic State growing in Pakistan, report says

WASHINGTON: First it was the threat of Soviet/communism card. Then it was the al-Qaida card. Pakistan is now pulling out a new one: The ISIS card.On the eve of the visit to the United States of Pakistan's most powerful man, army chief Raheel Sharif, the Pakistani military has fashioned a new narrative to sell to Washington in order to return to its good books and extract continued flow of military supplies and civilian aid. It is the imminent threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sweeping into the nuclear-armed country that is already under siege from al-Qaida, although the alternative narrative suggests it is complicit in sheltering al-Qaida and an assortment of extremist-terrorist organizations to further its strategic and policy objectives.One of those of objectives is to obtain continued US support in the form of aid and military hardware, so ahead of the army strongman's visit starting this weekend, the first by the country's military supremo in four years, Pakistani media is replete with stories of ISIS surfacing in the country in the form of flags, pamphlets, and wall-chalking. Amid some rolling of the eyes in Washington, one newspaper reported this week that signs of local support for the dreaded Islamic State have surfaced in various parts of Pakistan, including graffiti that welcomed the head of Syrian Daish Group Abu Bakkar Al Bagdadi.While Pakistan has always been open to the threat both of and by extremist forces, some of which it is universally accused of nurturing, its policy of using it to extract support from Washington is coming under increasingly scrutiny. "The danger here is that while playing this game Pakistan will eventually end up making ISIS stronger to its own detriment," warned a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington who is now in exile due to threat from extremist elements in his home country.ISIS flags hoisted near Islamabad, Pak security establishment in tizzy(Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif.)Still, regional experts expect Sharif to make a strong case for enhanced US engagement with Pakistan after years of heightened suspicion following the killing of Osama bin Laden in the Abbottabad raid. Pakistan, said one US analyst who consults with the Pentagon said in the same background conversation involving the Pakistani ambassador, will benefit from Washington's tendency "to want to do something in situations instead of doing nothing." Both agreed that institutional memories were very short in Washington and Pakistan's transgressions are readily forgiven and forgotten.Raheel has prefaced his Washington visit with a conciliatory trip to Kabul last week closely — to be followed by a return visit to Islamabad by Afghanistan's new President Ashraf Ghani — during which both sides tried to get around the India factor. Sharif offered to train Afghan forces, and Ghani, in return, is said to be reevaluating his predecessor Hamid Karzai's efforts to buy weapons from India for the Afghan army. Ghani visit is happening this coming week.(File photo of ISIS fighters)