Given deep angst towards Pakistan amongst members of US Congress, its unlikely such money would flow again next year.
NEW YORK: This is with reference to the article by M Ziauddin “Intriguing” (October 23). The cash flowing in from the US in the form of the unfreezing of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman package, whether coincidental to the prime minister’s visit or not, is a lifeline in the current circumstances. Given the deep angst towards Pakistan amongst the members of the US Congress, it is highly unlikely that such money would flow again next year. The US will be out of Afghanistan, Iran is coming back into the game, China and India are behaving with maturity towards each other, and the world is becoming more intolerant of countries holding stashes of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.
Hameed Gul’s doctrine of ‘strategic depth’ vis-a-vis Afghanistan has been discarded into the dustbin by global events. It is time that Pakistan got off its high horse to revisit and revamp its strategy of how to make a respectable place for itself amongst the community of civilised nations. There are not too many buyers for Pakistan’s ‘minimal deterrent’ story about nuclear assets and every country, including China, opposes any sort of terrorism emanating from a country that harms foreign lands. The Pakistani establishment should show its patriotism by supporting a new policy that gives priority to olive branches over guns.
Noor Nabi
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2013.
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