Towards a new strategy – II


Fasih Bokhari June 08, 2010

Musharraf reversed the pro-Taliban Afghan policy. He allowed Pakistan to support the imperial occupation of Afghanistan. The reversal can only be condoned to the extent that it finally exposed the abuse of Pakistan and Afghanistan for American imperial designs.  The US imperial game in Af-Pak is destroying the economy that sustains all other facets of Pakistan’s sovereignty. We are holding on to the begging bowl and will sink deeper unless we end the war and take steps to regain our sovereignty. American pundits are saying the war is unwinnable and the coalition of the willing is no longer willing: Israel and India stand exposed for their role as imperial tools. American strategy is receiving setbacks that an economically weakening super power is finding difficult to cope with.

We need to understand our interests in the war’s end game. Leadership is about knowing your interests and maximising your power to create political space to freely pursue them. In international relations there are no enemies and no friends; strategy is employed to create your own space for manoeuvre. In the absence of a credible strategy our space is being compressed by American occupation and demands to eliminate al Qaeda to protect American controlled Muslim governments’ interests. No Pakistani interest is being served by fighting al Qaeda unless those governments demonstrate visible action to stop funding and arming our religious right.

America and Pakistan benefitted in their own ways from this alliance. Our common ground on the future of this region ended after USSR collapsed. Pakistan’s survival depends on ending any illusion we have about our alliance with the US. America is not an enemy; it pursued its interests after the collapse of the USSR because we ceded it space to do so.

We need to regain our space. Should we continue to support the war of occupation? Should we allow undercover presence of unknown US agencies? Afghan and Pakistani soldiers and civilians are dying. This must stop. When the occupation ends, the patriotic fighters will lay down their arms; foreign funding of thugs conducting mayhem will stop; we will be able to handle the “mercenaries by economic default” through a policy of alternative employment and education. Pakistanis do not want theocratic control of the state. The religious right has never won more than three per cent votes in elections. This highlights the small strength of externally funded militants. Without America, Israel, India and Muslim monarchies and revolutionaries in the mix, we may be able to eliminate internal militancy even without a military solution.

There is a lot to be grateful to America for. We have survived; we have become a regional conventional, sub-conventional, and even nuclear power with their “tacit ignorance”. We can now become an economic power, and give our people the Pakistan that the Quaid wanted for them. The re-construction of Af-Pak, building of trade corridor infrastructure, pipelines and infrastructure will see investment and job creation with exponential expansion of this region’s economies.

We must frame an independent national security strategy and let American forces go home without disgrace. There will be many common interests with America emerging in the future. All options should remain open. The hand of friendship must be extended to all in the region, and to America, for more equitable relationships. We should start behaving like the nuclear and regional power that we have struggled for over six decades to become.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 9th, 2010.

COMMENTS (11)

Meekal Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply Some very challenging observations. I enourage the author to respond.
faraz | 13 years ago | Reply If US leaves, taliban and northern alliance will simple start from where they left - A Civil war
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