Do They Think
Us Fools?
By Dr Shireen M. Mazari
The way we as a country
are being pushed and bandied about by our supposed
allies, one really has to wonder whether they regard
us as too simple to understand what is being done
to us. Take the case of Britain. Recently, a British
army officer, Colonel Vernon, chief of staff for
southern Afghanistan, declared that the Taliban
were coordinating their campaigns from Quetta. The
comment was published in the British newspaper,
The Guardian. This paper also quoted an "unnamed"
British diplomat in Islamabad as backing up not
only Vernon's accusation but also Karzai's histrionics
against Pakistan. Of course, the comments of the
Pakistan government were not sought nor were any
comments sought from any Pakistani source. Because
as the West fails to stabilize Afghanistan, they
are looking for fall guys to blame.
However, what has been even more galling has been
the drama that followed this story and its rejection
by the Pakistan government. The British High Commissioner
in Islamabad then said that the colonel's remarks
in no way reflected the policy of the United Kingdom...Come
now Mr. Grant, are you trying to tell us that a
British army officer does not come under civilian
control and can make political accusations against
a foreign country without clearance from any senior
civilian authority? That does not wash especially
when we hear so much about British democracy and
civilian control over the military. And what of
the comments of the "unnamed" British
diplomat in Islamabad? Was he also going his own
way without reflecting his government's perspective?
Equally important, High Commissioner Grant's comments
were strictly for the Pakistani media and were nowhere
to be seen in The Guardian, where the attempted
clarification should have been sent in the first
place.
But this pattern of so-called good-cop bad-cop on
the part of the US has become endemic in the Pakistan-US
relationship and of course whatever the US does,
loyal Britain will follow. So we find ourselves
being maligned internationally while attempts are
made to mollify us at the domestic level. We have
now been witnessing this American charade for some
time in Pakistan. While one Bush Administration
official recounts Pakistan's commitment to the war
against terror, another accuses Pakistan of "not
doing enough". Forget the fact that Pakistan
has given its life and limb, literally, to fighting
the war against terror and, has sustained Afghan
refugees for decades now. As for the Pakistani leadership,
it has actually put its own life in danger in order
to take on the al-Qaeda terrorists and their supporters.
The rather open duplicity of the US and Britain
towards Pakistan is reaching ridiculous levels,
undoubtedly on the assumption that anything can
be dished out to the Pakistanis because they are
gullible enough not to question the glaring absurdities.
That can be the only reason for these contradictory
statements coming from the US and Britain. The US
has adopted this game of plying us with accusations
followed by mollifications on a range of issues,
beyond Afghanistan. For instance, on the Indo-US
nuclear deal, apparently we have been told to keep
silent on the issue, as it was an "internal
matter" of the US. How foolish do they think
we are? The US-India nuclear deal is hardly an internal
US matter and it impinges directly on Pakistan's
security milieu so how can we keep silent on it?
In fact, we should tell the US quite clearly that
it is our right to campaign against this deal across
the globe and within the US Congress.
As for the whole issue of "internal matters",
the US has a most intrusive approach towards Pakistan
and sees it as its right to intervene on a wide
range of domestic issues in Pakistan -- not only
through official comment but also through a burgeoning
number of NGOs that are trying to intervene directly
in our domestic matters -- to improve the US image
in Pakistan and to reshape Pakistani society. The
Lincoln Group's presence here is one such example
-- they are also trying to revamp the US image in
Iraq.
But it is on Afghanistan that the US is really blowing
hot and cold towards Pakistan. Accusations from
one segment of the administration, which are printed
in the international and US media, are then followed
by a seeming contradiction praising Pakistan that
only appears in the Pakistani media. Do the Americans
really think Pakistanis believe that the accusations
against their country emanating from the Afghan
leadership are without America's blessings? Is that
how gullible we are seen to be? We are suspect one
minute and then seen as crucial partners for NATO
the next.
Of course, Afghan leaders have also found this an
opportune moment to have their catharsis against
Pakistan. It used to be Abdullah Abdullah, who of
course was also beholden to India for supporting
him and his family. So when he departed, many in
Pakistan became smug. But the new foreign minister
seems equally anti-Pakistan, which is not surprising
given his background. In fact, if we adopt a rational
assessment, we will realize that Afghanistan has
always been hostile towards Pakistan, barring short
interludes of rapprochement, beginning with its
negative vote on our admission to the UN. Our Consulate
in Jalalabad was burnt by Afghan mobs much before
there was any sign of the Russians in Kabul, and
this burning of our consulate and embassy has been
repeated periodically. President Karzai has taken
to issuing ever more hostile accusatory statements
against Pakistan despite the fact that it was this
maligned country that offered him refuge and succor
for many years. And if he resents Pakistan's alleged
intrusiveness in Afghan affairs, he should also
recall that Afghan governments were interfering
in our domestic affairs on the Pukhtunistan issue
for decades. Also, the Afghans were quite happy
to have us become a front line state in the war
to eject the Russians from Afghanistan -- which
required us to host not only the many acrimonious
Afghan Mujahideen factions but also millions of
refugees who were given free access to the country
as fellow Muslim brethren. And Pakistan continues
to be straddled with over two million Afghan refugees
even today so it is in our interests to ensure that
we have a favorable environment in Afghanistan,
which will allow for the complete return of these
refugees. But, of course, we also realize that no
matter what their personal animus towards Pakistan,
the Afghan leadership could not be abusing us without
the approval of the US.
Not that such accusations help either the Afghan
cause or the US-led war against terrorism. Because
of the purely military focus of the war on terror,
with little regard for root causes, space denial
to the terrorists has not been achieved. Had the
US paid more heed to Pakistan's advice regarding
root causes of terrorism, it may have been better
placed today on the war against terror.
Interestingly, the more sane elements in Europe,
who are also fighting in Afghanistan, have by and
large chosen to remain out of these accusatory games
-– and with good reason. Pakistan's support
remains crucial to the war against terror in Afghanistan
and the costs that we are bearing are phenomenal.
It is time for us Pakistanis to stop taking any
more nonsense from our "allies".
(The writer is director general of the Institute
of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. Courtesy The
News)
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