Who should ‘Do More’
IT is amazing that it is the US that should tell Pakistan to ‘do more’ in the war on terror. If Washington had not been guilty of what can be called a virtual abandonment of Afghanistan and opened a new front in Iraq, things to the west of Pakistan and in the tribal belt itself would have been vastly different. There is now a “surge” in American troops in Iraq, and having already ploughed 300 billion dollars into that country, the Bush administration has asked for a similar amount for a war that most observers consider unwinnable. If the US had spent a fraction of that amount on Afghanistan and made serious efforts to win the Afghan people over, the allies would not be bracing themselves today for a spring offensive by the Taliban. These are the obvious thoughts that come to one’s mind when one finds Mr Dick Cheney making a sudden appearance in Islamabad on the heels of press reports that Washington was going to “talk tough” to President Pervez Musharraf and warn Islamabad of an aid cut if it did not “do more”. The White House later denied the press reports, though the denial itself was nebulous, lacked substance and equivocated in a manner that only tended to confirm the reports.
A pattern now seems to have emerged: the administration leaks reports to sections of the American media about the “tough talk” and America’s unhappiness with Pakistan’s purported unwillingness to do all it could to crush the Taliban and check the cross-border movement which is supposed to be only in one direction. This is followed the next day by a White House or State Department cliché-ridden denial, which also contains a bit of plaudits for Islamabad’s role in the war on terror. President Musharraf’s meeting with the US vice-president on Monday was not followed by a joint press conference, and it was only an official handout that let the world know what had happened during the meeting. However, the American press said that Pakistan had “lashed out” and made
it clear that it “does not accept dictation from any side or any source”. President Musharraf also said, according to the handout, that the international community was collectively responsible for the war on terror. The truth of this assertion must be seen in the context of the president’s earlier remark that guarding the Durand Line was not Pakistan’s sole responsibility.
What the Americans fail to realise is that the war on terror is in Pakistan’s own interest. It is not that Pakistan is a front-line state because it borders Afghanistan; it is a front-line state because, if unchecked, the wave of religious obscurantism could overwhelm Pakistan and tear apart the very fabric of civil society. Zille Huma was not an American; she was a Pakistani killed by a fanatic who believed that women could not be “rulers” and must wear the hijab. It is insane obscurantism of this kind that is Pakistan’s problem, in addition to the militants who continue to move across the Durand Line. Irrespective of what the allies on the other side of the border do, Pakistan must
not waver. It has to fight the war on two fronts: the Afghanistan-based Taliban and the obscurantist elements within the country. Those who want Pakistan to ‘do more’ should have an appraising look at their own performance.
IT is amazing that it is the US that should tell Pakistan to ‘do more’ in the war on terror. If Washington had not been guilty of what can be called a virtual abandonment of Afghanistan and opened a new front in Iraq, things to the west of Pakistan and in the tribal belt itself would have been vastly different. There is now a “surge” in American troops in Iraq, and having already ploughed 300 billion dollars into that country, the Bush administration has asked for a similar amount for a war that most observers consider unwinnable. If the US had spent a fraction of that amount on Afghanistan and made serious efforts to win the Afghan people over, the allies would not be bracing themselves today for a spring offensive by the Taliban. These are the obvious thoughts that come to one’s mind when one finds Mr Dick Cheney making a sudden appearance in Islamabad on the heels of press reports that Washington was going to “talk tough” to President Pervez Musharraf and warn Islamabad of an aid cut if it did not “do more”. The White House later denied the press reports, though the denial itself was nebulous, lacked substance and equivocated in a manner that only tended to confirm the reports.
A pattern now seems to have emerged: the administration leaks reports to sections of the American media about the “tough talk” and America’s unhappiness with Pakistan’s purported unwillingness to do all it could to crush the Taliban and check the cross-border movement which is supposed to be only in one direction. This is followed the next day by a White House or State Department cliché-ridden denial, which also contains a bit of plaudits for Islamabad’s role in the war on terror. President Musharraf’s meeting with the US vice-president on Monday was not followed by a joint press conference, and it was only an official handout that let the world know what had happened during the meeting. However, the American press said that Pakistan had “lashed out” and made
it clear that it “does not accept dictation from any side or any source”. President Musharraf also said, according to the handout, that the international community was collectively responsible for the war on terror. The truth of this assertion must be seen in the context of the president’s earlier remark that guarding the Durand Line was not Pakistan’s sole responsibility.
What the Americans fail to realise is that the war on terror is in Pakistan’s own interest. It is not that Pakistan is a front-line state because it borders Afghanistan; it is a front-line state because, if unchecked, the wave of religious obscurantism could overwhelm Pakistan and tear apart the very fabric of civil society. Zille Huma was not an American; she was a Pakistani killed by a fanatic who believed that women could not be “rulers” and must wear the hijab. It is insane obscurantism of this kind that is Pakistan’s problem, in addition to the militants who continue to move across the Durand Line. Irrespective of what the allies on the other side of the border do, Pakistan must
not waver. It has to fight the war on two fronts: the Afghanistan-based Taliban and the obscurantist elements within the country. Those who want Pakistan to ‘do more’ should have an appraising look at their own performance.
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