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Propaganda against an ally — a faulty engagement
The
year was 1985. The end of Cold War was in sight. In one of the US
War Colleges, a war game was conducted wherein the course members
were presented with post-Cold War situation and asked to deliberate
on the fate of overseas US forces with respect to their relocation.
Many heads rolled and it was concluded that the most important
strategic location for relocation of forces would be the Persian
Gulf. The relocation would ensure control on the Straits of Hormuz
and would provide firm control over the vast mineral and oil
resources of the region. So, it was not a surprise when the CIA
created conditions wherein the US supported Iraq in its war against
Iran only to later encourage the former to invade Kuwait. The stage
was then set to move in the US forces in the name of operation
‘Desert Storm’ to drive out the Iraqis from Kuwait. Since that
fateful day the American forces placed their feet on the ground, the
region remains destabilised. As if it was not enough, the US forces
expanded their area of operations to include South Asia also. The US
attacked Afghanistan, the people, their own creation of band of
brothers in arms, the Mujahideen later called the Taliban, all of
whom had tremendously helped the US to fight Russians and in the
process laid their lives so that their ‘friends’ could achieve their
aim. What could be the bigger irony that they attacked Afghanistan
in the name of ‘war on terror’ even though none of the perpetrators
of 9/11 attacks was an Afghan. Whatever the reasons, the US was
successful in placing its forces in this arena also.
Admiral Mike Mullen and Richard Holbrooke have left Pakistan by now
as I write this column having purportedly discussed the
implementation of newly- framed US policy with the Pakistani
authorities. The emphasis they must have put on had to be the
expansion of their drone operations in Balochistan area as well.
They seemed to have received the divine revelation yet again wherein
they say that the Taliban Shura was hiding in Balochistan. Remember!
They received one earlier also in connection with ‘Iraq’s weapons of
mass destruction’.
With the way they are progressing, it won’t be a surprise if south
of the Punjab is earmarked as the hiding place for Osama Bin Laden.
Aren’t they slowly working on some other agenda? Remember there was
a map published somewhere in the West showing Pakistan disintegrated
and its discomfort with Pakistan’s nuclear status. CIA is at work
here again but Pakistan’s ISI, the premier national agency, stands
tall to safeguard Pakistan’s integrity and its national interests.
Having considered Pakistan’s armed forces and the ISI as stumbling
blocks in implementing its agenda, the CIA has started a vicious
propaganda war, primarily targeting the ISI by maligning it to the
extremes. This is a veiled attempt to make Pakistan and the ISI, a
scapegoat for all of its ills and conspicuous failures in
Afghanistan.
The blatant propaganda against Pakistan Army and the ISI, as the two
main targets coupled with the pressure being exerted through Obama’s
Afghan-Pak policy, no significant progress towards handling of war
on terror is possible. I wonder what incidents led the US
administration to believe that there are rogue elements in the Army
or the ISI and that these two state institutions are not fully
committed to root out terrorism. There is a lot of trust deficit
between the security agencies of the two countries.
The 26 November terror incident in India also worked towards
furthering the distrust. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke has himself
confessed lately in one of US television programmes ‘News Hour with
Jim Lehrer’ that “We cannot succeed if the two intelligence agencies
are at each other’s throat or don’t trust each other”. While still
talking of trust, the betrayal of CIA on Afghanistan, support of
Indian intelligence agency RAW by giving a blank cheque to
destabilise Pakistan’s Balochistan and the Fata areas through its
consulates along the borders, CIA’s nexus with Indian intelligence
agency ‘RAW’ and Afghanistan’s secret agency ‘Khad’ and strange but
mysterious quietness on the need to resolve the Kashmir conflict,
the very basic issue that destabilises the South Asian region are
few of the subjects that leave our minds boggled.
Pakistan has legitimate concerns about India’s involvement in
Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Christine Fair, a
leading American expert, revealed in a recently-held discussion on
the subject in New York by saying, “Having visited the Indian
mission in Zahedan, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as
their main activity. India runs its operations from its consulate in
Mazar Shariff and is likely doing the same from its consulates in
Jalalabad and Kandahar.” She also said, “Indian officials have told
me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan. It would
be a mistake to disregard Pakistan’s regional perceptions due to
doubts about Indian competence in executing covert operations”
inside Pakistan.
Shaun Gregory, director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit at
the University of Bradford, during the same discussion emphasized
addressing of Pakistan’s legitimate security needs. Sumit Ganguly,
professor of Political Science at Indiana University, contributed in
the discussion like this, “he never suggested that the Indians have
purely humanitarian objectives in Afghanistan, that said their
vigorous attempts to limit Pakistan’s reach and influence there stem
largely from being systematically bled in Kashmir, their role in
Afghanistan is a pincer movement designed to relieve the pressure in
Kashmir”.
Despite all this, Americans do not want to realise the extent of the
commitment of Pakistan in the war on terror even from the great
sacrifices that have been rendered by its security forces, including
those of its intelligence agencies. Why cannot they acknowledge its
sincerity when it apprehended nearly 700 al-Qaeda operatives —
including the alleged mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh? How can the
US remain oblivious of the fact that by helping them, the people of
Pakistan continue to face their reprisals through suicide bombings
and other terror attacks? The tone, the malicious propaganda against
the Army and the ISI by US generals, think-tanks and congressmen, is
it the reward for the people of Pakistan for getting themselves
associated with the US on its terror war? With the treatment being
meted out is it still worth keeping their peace and prosperity
hostage to the US war on terror or its quest to gain stronghold on
the energy corridors of this region?
It must be understood that Pakistan’s security forces and the ISI
are all educated enough to understand its security interests. They
are educated enough to differentiate between white and black. We are
against the Taliban perception of Islam. If the United States is to
preserve its national security, then Pakistan also has the right to
preserve its own. So if Pakistan is trying to preserve its national
interests, it does not mean that it is supporting the Taliban or
their brand of Islam. So, the US has to demonstrate respect, for
Pakistan having done and lost so much, as its front ally on the war
on terror. It is time they mull over their exit strategy and leave
the region shape its destiny itself.
(The
News: Viewpoint :Friday, April 10, 2009:By Mashaal Javed)
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