US President George W. Bush famously characterized a nation's position on the war on terror either “with us or against us.” But happens when those who are "with us" are not necessarily "against" those who are "against us?" Such is the case in Pakistan, where with the help of some polling and John Stewart, we see that the Pakistan-US relationship is a bit more complex.
The US-Pakistan Relationship
Although the American and Pakistani governments have shared tight alliances in the past, the Bush administration and Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf have developed a particularly close relationship throughout the past 7 years. The relationship centers around Musharraf's pledge to be "with us" in the war on terror, that is, to hunt down US arch enemy Osama bin Laden and other Islamic extremists reported to be operating out of Pakistan.
The US has recognized these efforts, formally so in 2002 when the House passed a concurrent resolution "Commending President Pervez Musharraf Of Pakistan For His Leadership And Friendship And Welcoming Him To The United States" (full text here). Musharraf's counter-terrorism efforts have been amply funded by the US, having received more than $10 billion in mostly military aid since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
While the General's efforts were initially praised, more recently his commitment to fighting terrorism has been questioned, especially his effectiveness in combating a resurgence of Al Qaeda and Taliban extremists along the Pakistan-Afghan border. In January of last year the House passed (see section 2042) an appropriations bill that called for greater accountability for aid to Pakistan, though it failed to pass the Senate.
Meanwhile, Musharraf instists that he is committed to fighting terrorism within Pakistan not for the sake of the US-Pakistan alliance, but rather for the sake of his own nation's national security.
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He's so committed to rooting out Islamic extremists, the AP reported two days ago, that he has made that his number one priority‚ not so much finding bin Laden, as the US wishes.
Enter Public Opinion
Whether or not you believe General Musharraf is sincere in his efforts to hunt down bin Laden, a recent poll shows the Pakistani public doesn't seem all too concerned about the hunt for bin Laden, and anyway thinks the US poses a bigger threat to Pakistan's national security.
Veteran Inter Press Service Washington correspondent Jim Lobe reports:“Amid reports that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is considering aggressive covert actions against armed Islamist forces in western Pakistan, a new survey released here Monday suggested that such an effort would be opposed by an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis themselves.
The survey, which was funded by the quasi-governmental U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and designed by the University of Maryland's Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), also found that a strong majority of Pakistanis consider the U.S. military presence in Asia and neighbouring Afghanistan a much more critical threat to their country than al Qaeda or Pakistan's own Taliban movement in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.”
The poll also shows that most urban Pakistanis do not necessarily believe Bin Laden is currently operating in Pakistan, and even so they have mixed views of the Al Qaeda leader:
"Q25. For each of the following people, would you say your feelings are very positive, somewhat positive, mixed, somewhat negative, or very negative? a. Osama bin Laden
Very positive………………………………………………………………………13%
Somewhat positive……………………………………………………………….18 Mixed…………………………………………………………………………………19
Somewhat negative………………………………………………………………..8
Very negative………………………………………………………………………..8
Refused/Don't know…………………………………………………………….35"
In short, the Pakistani public has what their government considers "ally" and "enemy" reversed.
Enter John Stewart
Pop culture provides us a further example of how the "with us or against us" approach to the war on terror does not accurately fit the complexities of the modern US-Pakistan relationship. In September of 2006 General Musharraf appeared on Jon Stewart's popular satirical news show in the United States‚ in fact the first foreign President ever to do so. Stewart popped the question of whether President George W. Bush or Osama bin Laden would win the popular vote in a presidential election in Pakistan. Musharraf chuckled "I think they'll both lose miserably.” [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/AMnMW8Ms7Gg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /](fast forward to 1:30).
At least we know that Al Qaeda doesn't see Musharraf as “with them” in their war against the US.
Progress
Despite the US President's unfailing support for Musharraf as an ally in the war on terror, US lawmakers are becoming more critical, no doubt thanks to several compelling testimonies (notably Lawrence Korb and Ashley Tellis) before Congressional committees of late.
“It has become all too clear that U.S. policies and assistance toward Pakistan since Sept. 11 — while not without some successes — have failed to neutralize anti-Western militants or reduce religious extremism,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who chaired a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on aid to Pakistan this month.
Last week the Agence France Presse reported that Representative Gary Ackerman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, "said that the reliance by President George W. Bush's administration on “war on terror” ally Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to restore democracy while fighting against extremism had not worked.“
The IHT reports that in a recent hearing Ackerman urged [US Deputy Secretary of State] Negroponte to “get some phone numbers of some other generals."
Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was one of the few to identify the public as one layer of Pakistani society that the US should be seeking to ally: "The United States must shift from the “transactional” approach of “aid for services to a normal, functioning relationship The United States should seek a “relationship based on the Pakistani government and its people, not just Musharraf,” Biden said.
Who's "With" Who?
Now Bush's mantra has come full circle: US lawmakers are beginning to turn "against" those who are supposed to be "with us" in the war on terror. This evolution in the US-Pakistan relationship over the past seven years shows that neither the US nor Pakistan‚ their leaders nor their publics‚ fit squarely into the "with us or against us" approach to the war on terror.
