Hardly had the implications of Obama’s new approach to the war in Afghanistan sunk in that the carping began in Pakistan. The words that most stuck in the establishment’s craw were those that warned our generals that they could no longer expect a blank cheque from the Americans. Thus far, the Pentagon has been underwriting our less-than-robust attempts in the frontier region to the tune of around 80 million dollars a month.
From the American perspective, they aren’t getting enough bang for their buck. Our armchair generals think we are already doing too much. Now, the choice is going to be stark: if the army wants its shiny new toys and its perks, it will have to re-think its posture, and do some serious fighting. This is not to deny the bravery of the soldiers who have laid down their lives thus far. But the fact is that the Frontier Corps is too ill-equipped and too poorly trained to take on Baitullah Mehsud and his Taliban. What are needed are the army’s crack troops currently in barracks along our eastern border. These are the soldiers the Americans want for the heavy fighting on our Afghan frontier.
The truth is that the Taliban currently have the upper hand on both sides of the Durand Line. But whereas the Americans recognise this, and are sending in more troops to Afghanistan, our government is still in denial. As our army’s defeat in Swat showed, it is facing a tough, ruthless foe who is highly motivated and well armed. To pretend that the Taliban can be beaten by the police or the militia is to shirk the state’s primary responsibility of protecting its citizens.
The world is appalled by the ease with which the Taliban and various Islamist terrorists operate within our country. Attacks in Lahore like the ones at the police training centre and against the Sri Lankan cricket team leave foreigners shaking their heads in amazement and despair. And yet the Punjab police and sundry intelligence agencies are galvanised into action to crush any legitimate opposition. Actually, this is what they are trained to do. Thus, they are really no match for jihadis who are just as happy if they are killed.
While we Pakistanis are hardened to the daily mayhem in our midst, the West values its soldiers in Afghanistan more highly than we do our citizens who fall victim to the Taliban. So when we cannot control the madness within our borders, and as a direct result, NATO and American soldiers die in Afghanistan, the pressure on our government and our forces to ‘do more’ is bound to increase. At NATO’s 60th anniversary’s summit in Strasbourg this week, there will be calls to press Pakistan to commit more forces. Already, the chorus of criticism directed at the ISI for its alleged role in supporting the Taliban is swelling.
How will our military establishment cope with this pressure that is going to grow in coming weeks? While they are happy to ignore the voices of ordinary Pakistanis who just want to live in peace, they will find it harder to reject the demands made by the Americans, especially when they are shelling out $1.5 billion a year. Although there are many Pakistanis (several of whom seem to live in TV studios) who are shrill in their denunciations of American pressure, none of them have any suggestions of where the financial assistance we need so urgently is to come from. The Saudis and the Chinese have clearly indicated that they are not willing to help. This leaves just Washington, and as the old saying goes, “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.
Most foreigners cannot grasp our army’s preoccupation with India. For them, our neighbour is a large, powerful state that is playing an increasingly global role. By comparison, Pakistan is seen as an insignificant and troublesome player. The recent BBC/Gallup survey placing Pakistan among the bottom five of the most popular countries in the world should put things in perspective. Of the 13,500 people polled in 21 countries, only 20 per cent had a favourable view of our country. In the rankings, we were only one place above Afghanistan. India, on the other hand, was favourably viewed by 64 per cent of those surveyed.While such views are painful, they should shake us out of our state of denial. Instead of analysing why the world perceives us as it does, and trying to change this view, we seem determined to stick our collective head firmly in the sand. Indeed, these opinions only serve to strengthen our paranoia, and confirm that the whole world is against us. Most of the talking heads on our many TV channels at
tribute our negative image to ‘Indian propaganda’, and gloss over the frightful state of our nation.
In the ongoing civil war – and make no mistake, this is what it is – far too many powerful opinion-makers continue to sit on the fence. Some even indirectly support the enemy by dividing public opinion. While we should be forging a consensus, many politicians and journalists continue to question the fact that we are fighting the Taliban at all. By labelling the conflict as ‘America’s war’, they are diverting attention from the fact that it is Pakistan that is first at risk should the Taliban prevail.
Outsiders cannot comprehend this duplicity. In many countries, ‘aiding and abetting the enemy’ is a crime. Surely every patriotic Pakistani should condemn the various attacks that are taking place around us almost every day. After all, the victims are Pakistanis, not Americans. When drone attacks kill (mostly foreign) militants in their hideouts in the tribal areas, there is an orgy of denunciation. But when the Taliban (or their various partners in crime) slaughter our people, there is little condemnation. For instance, when over 70 people were killed in a suicide attack at a mosque last week, I heard very few politicians fulminating against those behind the attack.
We are now in the unhappy position of being prodded into action. A combination of inertia and ideology prevents our army from launching a concerted campaign against the Taliban. But very soon now, it will be forced to choose between a more robust military posture and being completely sidelined. As Obama implied, if our forces won’t do the job, the Americans will, one way or another.
Dawn (Pakistan)
