A key United States lawmaker has slammed Pakistan for what he alleges is its duplicity in helping the US in its global war on terror against the Al Qaeda but turning a blind-eye to the Taliban in order to use this movement at a later date against India and Iran.

New York Democrat Gary Ackerman, who is also the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's sub-committee on Middle East and Asia, in his opening remarks convening a hearing titled 'US Policy Toward Pakistan,' said, "The government of Pakistan, may lack certain capabilities, but we are na�ve to think that this is the only problem."

"Pakistan long ago made a strategic decision to help us with Al Qaeda but also turn a blind eye towards the Taliban in the belief that their former allies will once again prove useful to them in their regional manoeuvring against India and Iran," he said.

"What other conclusion could one draw when our own military commanders testify that it is generally accepted, that Taliban leaders operate openly in Quetta, one of Pakistan's largest cities," Ackerman argued.

"Indeed the showboat arrest of the former Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Obaidullah, in Quetta, during Vice President Cheney's visit reinforces the conclusion that Pakistan could act against the Taliban, if they were only willing," he said.

The Democrat lawmaker said, "Even if you believe that Pakistan is doing all it can to assist us in the war on terror, the evidence shows that it is not enough, and it is harming US interests in Afghanistan and undermining Afghan efforts to establish a stable, secure and democratic government."

"The question before Congress is not whether we should stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda as a sanctuary, the question is whether all the money we've provided to date has produced the result we want and need," he observed, adding, "I don't believe it has. In fact, I believe that the government of Pakistan will use the threat of terrorists to extract as much from us as they possibly can and we have proven willing time and again to oblige."

Ackerman said it was not only with regard to terrorism that Pakistan was being duplicitous but also vis-�-vis proliferation.

"There are still grave concerns about the nature and extent of the 'nuclear Walmart' run by A Q Khan," he noted, pointing out that till date no agent or investigator of the United States has had any direct access to him.

"We have only the purported information from Khan passed to us by the Government of Pakistan-a government which in one breath places him under house arrest and in the next celebrates him as a national hero," he said.

"Meanwhile, we are left to wonder whether Dr Khan's former associates have been arrested, or if they decided it was time for a career change or merely changed aliases," he added.

Commenting on the lack of democracy in Pakistan and referring to the rioting over the weekend in Lahore over President Musharraf's decision to remove the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 'for as yet unspecified reasons,' Ackerman said: "This highlights the fact that the return of Pakistan to democracy is an issue that has slipped in emphasis if not in actual importance."

"For six years now, the Congress has authorised the President to waive the provision of law, which would ordinarily cut off assistance to a military government after a coup. I return for that waiver and $3.5 billion, we have seen very little in the way of progress back toward democracy," he said.

Ridiculing the announcement of elections by Musharraf slated for later this year or early next year, he said, "If past is prologue, these elections will be no freer and no fairer than others."

"Those candidates who might actually be able to mount a significant political challenge to President Musharraf will either be undercut or bared outright from participating, clearing the field for only a challenge from Islamist candidates and setting before the voters the false choice of Musharraf or militants in control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal," he predicted.

Implying that it was high time an alternative to Musharraf was found, Ackerman said, "What we truly need in Pakistan is someone else to talk to."

He assailed the Bush administration for being seemingly 'content to only speak with President Musharraf and portrays him as the indispensable man. The truth is, for our goals to be achieved in Pakistan there should be more than one phone number there to dial, he said.

Ackerman said, "It is long past time for the Congress to add benchmarks on aid to Pakistan to ensure that progress against terrorism and towards restoring democracy is actually made and we stop responding to every crisis in Pakistan with the refrain of more money."

Congressman Joe Crowley, also a New York Democrat, and like Ackerman a former co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said, "Our alliance with Pakistan after 9/11 has always made me weary. Pakistan was given a choice by the President after the terrorist attacks; you are either with us or against us."