What US should understand
Posted on September 29, 2011
Soherwordi
Successful diplomacy requires tact, which was sorely missing in Admiral Mike Mullen’s statement before a US Senate panel where he claimed that Pakistan was exporting terror into Afghanistan through the ISI backed Haqqani network. Such accusations are a guaranteed way of losing an important ally, a habit Washington cannot forget.
President Obama thinks he has a successful face saving strategy to cover up his mistakes in Afghanistan, as his election was based on his promise to end the war. Now at the end of his term the war is still on and America is losing it. Patience with allies like Pakistan, who have to look after their own interests, thus runs thin the longer the war drags out.
What America fails to realise is that this is Pakistan’s war too. We have lost 30,000 and we are still counting. Alliances are formed for the mutual benefit of the allies and not because one partner has the power and might to force the other partner to do its bidding, as is the case with Pakistan and America.
An attack on North Waziristan with the intention of wiping out the Haqqani network is unacceptable. America would lose a valuable ally and it will be a disaster story. Losing Pakistan’s cooperation at this point will mean a regeneration of terror on a massive scale.
Pakistan guards a 2250 km long border with Afghanistan but the question is why can’t the Nato/US security forces stop infiltration from their side? The answer to this is obvious – the Haqqani group does not exist in North Waziristan and it operates only inside Afghanistan. However, to cover this failure, the US is blaming Pakistan.
America constantly accuses Pakistan but when hundreds of militants attacked Pakistan entering Chitral from the Afghan province of Kunar, where was the American security and how did these terrorists manage to return without being apprehended by the US/Nato forces? Is not Nato then harbouring terrorists against Pakistan?
The contradictions in the US position are glaring. Former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani was assigned to negotiate with the Taliban but Admiral Mullen is urging Pakistan to eliminate the Haqqani group, which is the back bone of the Taliban. This is confusion at its best.
The US propaganda machinery is working overtime to portray its ally Pakistan as the bad guy but the US talking to the enemy, the Taliban, is okay. On the other hand, if Pakistan has normal information gathering links with any group, including the Haqqani network, even this is objectionable to the US. This is hypocrisy at its best.
It is time that Pakistan told the US that like them, Pakistan also wants to contain enemies in the region thus curtailing the growing Indian influence in Afghanistan. The US promotes Pakistan’s enemies but we are not allowed to secure our interests. After the US departure in 2014, India will stay there and sandwich Pakistan from the east and the western borders. It will be suicidal if we allow this.
America needs to understand that the war of words between the two states is damaging their chances of successfully working out a solution to the problem of terrorism in the region. Strong-arming Pakistan into subservience is not a workable solution. America cannot afford another war on its hands and it cannot afford to lose Pakistan’s assistance. Threatening Pakistan in this situation is not helping its cause. It is time to honour the alliance with Pakistan rather then turning it into an adversary.
The writer teaches International Relations at the University of Peshawar.
-The News