The USA for its geo-strategic purposes armed the Taliban so that they could get the USSR out of Afghanistan. This subsequently lead to the balkanization of the USSR. But by arming the Taliban the US has let the genie out of the bottle. The Afghans are great warriors and terrific hosts – but you cannot afford to have them as enemies for sure. US and Pakistan interests began clashing in the Pakistan backyard, that is when the Pakistan through the ISI, started clandestinely supporting the Taliban in trying to evict the government of the day in Afghanistan. Pakistan is dying to have some semblance of control over Afghanistan as that control gives it strategic depth against India. India for its part has spent millions of dollars in re-building Afghan infrastructure, thus trying to gain the Afghan Governments and peoples’ confidence. Looks like these four nations are tied together by an umbilical cord of discord!
Once the Russians were out of Afghanistan and post 9/11, the US started hunting for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and in so doing the Bush regime coined the phrase “War on Terror”. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? In this war on terror, the Bush regime pumped in billions of dollars into Pakistan, ostensibly in its economy but actually the money was utilized by the military junta for arming the country against India, its missile technology purchased clandestinely from North Korea and uranium for its nuclear reactors from China. Mr. Musharraf very smartly conned and blackmailed the US into parting with large sums of money, which technically should have bailed out the Pakistani economy if the money had been utilized for the purpose for which it was given. The Bush regime for eight years kept blindly certifying that the end use of money was proper in spite of the evidence provided by India to the contrary on many occasions. Its all about geo-strategic interest you see – its not about having permanent enemies only permanent interests! One's strategy changes with the global scenario!
The US under Bush went to a bloody war against Iraq on completely false premises, just to get its hands on Iraqi oil! Today, after loss of thousands of lives, Mr. Obama has said that they will be pulling out of Iraq, so looks like, the US under Bush screwed up big time in going to war and spending billions of dollars of tax payer money, which could probably have been of some help today in times of recession. It is easy for the US to project its power and play global policeman due to its geographic isolation – this advantage also makes it a country which can be easily defended.
The Pakistanis took the US and the rest of the world for a ride by talking about being a partner in the war on terror. The real terrorists were being created in Pakistan openly in the madrassas. Once a young mind has been brainwashed into thinking a certain line and trained to kill and die for the cause, then you have a human killing machine who does not know fear. These minds are told that they will go to heaven if they die for the cause. The cause could be anything, but it would be named “jihad” and these people would be let loose – be it Kashmir, Afghanistan or elsewhere in the world. In all these years China emerged as the worlds manufacturing hub, India as the worlds software hub and Pakistan as the worlds “jihadi” factory!
It has taken the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai for the world to realize that Pakistan has been running with the wolves and hunting with the hounds. The relentless pressure put by India and the US with solid evidence shoved in their face, the Pakistani government has ultimately admitted that the attacks did originate in part from Pakistan. But they are playing a dangerous game - with the ISI loathe to give up its clandestine activities – drug and arms running for its dirty tricks department – Bhutto’s dream of bleeding India dry through a thousand cuts! Pakistani courts have freed the biggest clandestine proliferators of nuclear arms technology Mr. AQ Khan thus fueling global fear on further nuclear proliferation and nuclear blackmail by Pakistan.
Pakistan will probably try to use this kind of blackmail to re-open the Kashmir question. We should ensure that this does not happen. The focus should be on swift investigation and timely action on the actionable intelligence provided by India and US against the 26/11 perpetrators. Pakistan has been playing a game of denial, lies, half truths and nuclear blackmail for a long time. This time though they have been caught out, with the new US administration not willing to play ball. Economic help they have been told will be forthcoming only if they co-operate in terror investigations.
Pakistan’s NWFP and SWAT region are already in the control of the Taliban. This, Zardari has admitted has been happening over a period of time (starting in Musharafs era) and now large swathes of Pakistani land are not controlled by the Pakistanis. Sophisticated arms are available with the hoi polloi, thus making Pakistan one of the most dangerous places on earth. It has nuclear weapons to boot – just imagine nuclear weapons in rogue hands – will give jihad a nuclear boost, uniting the worlds Muslims for one final assault to wipe out the heathens.
The only way to cut this umbilical cord is to boost democracy in Pakistan, bring the ISI under civilian control (easier said than done) systematically come down hard on madrassas which preach extreme action, ensure that they are cleansed and used for fruitful education of the masses which could in future bring about the economic revival of Pakistan. Let us hope and pray that good sense prevails in Pakistan and for once they do the right thing.
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