You are intentionally ignoring many facts here. They make you uncomfortable. US aid doesn't begin to cover the losses Pakistan sustained in this war. Human cost aside, military expenditures and losses to economy are many many times US aid. Let's compare it to money spent in Afghanistan which amounts to a trillion dollar. Now see the condition of Afghanistan and compare it to Pakistan. Before you go gaga over it was Pakistan who is to be blamed at the first place, let me remind you some of history.
During Soviet war, Afghan warriors were our common darlings, remember?
. And then West just left. Simply. With tens of thousands of fighters, massive amounts of weapons, destroyed infrastructure, millions of refugees in Pakistan and war between Kabul and factions of so proclaimed Mujahideens, you guys. Just. Left. Now don't you forget this till end of this post. Don't! What would happen is no rocket science. And my country borne the brunt in every possible way. So what were we suppose to do? We had to try to bring some kind of rule to this country so we can send refugees back and stop weapons and drugs coming into our land. It's easy to go idealistic sitting in a US metropolis but Afghanistan is no Boston mate. By now you guys have figured that out, the hard way though. So please spare me the idealistic bull crap and face the facts here.
Unlike guys like you believe, Afghan Taliban are not in our control. We can communicate with them. We can try to lure them but we can't force them to accept them anything. And, no; unless you are talking ethnic cleansing by WMDs, they are here to stay. When 9/11 happened, we sided with US. But memories of last time were still fresh. And this time we were fighting on the other side. So were you guys. You have the luxury of packing your bag and go home thousands of miles away leaving us to deal with the mess. Yet again!
Price we paid and still paying is to stand with US. We have hunted Al-Qaeda relentlessly and fought off TTP. They think Pakistan should be punished for siding with US. OBL's files tell you how much he hated Pak Military. We ripped his empire into pieces. And now here we have
some Americans who think we deceived them too! Talk about irony! Don't believe me. Believe US generals. Thankfully they are not stupid nor liars. If your general testifies to US lawmakers that we are fighting terrorism alongside US troops and intelligence AND using F-16s, the best precision bomber we have got, then dammit we are doing that! And doing that at a great price. On one hand we have to counter terrorist propaganda about siding with non-believers on the other with fools sitting in US metropolises! That's not the end of it. Here we have a neighbour who has no shame. With last departure of US in mind and shameless exploitation of Afghan situation at the expense Afghan civillians by our neighbour, it is only natural we protect our national interests. Listen genius, US is not the only one with a national interest. And we did not win our freedom to hand it back to Indians again! Why F-16s? Because it helps us hunt terrorists. Because we are fighting alongside US troops and benefits should run two ways. Because weak Pakistan only increases possibility of nuclear war. You want a nuclear war? Because we deserve to protect our interests as much as US does. Because region descending into chaos once again has repercussions for us and entire world. Because our actions help save US lives. Because we can get you to talk to people whom neither you nor we can eliminate completely. And most importantly Afghan forces are utterly hopeless in providing security and winning this war on their own.
I thank God that not all in Capital Hill and Pentagon are morons. Most of them can be reasoned with.
