The military establishment might be sticking to its policy of playing hardball with the Americans post Abbottabad but the US, it seems, wants to call our bluff. And it isn’t a good hand that we’re playing. As the Army chief and his intelligence czar were reminded the day before, when Leon Panetta had a meeting with them. Though they might have shown some intransigence to the CIA chief, who was here to thrash out an intelligence sharing deal with them, it was the latter who heated things up several notches by reportedly presenting them with some video and satellite imagery of militants in Waziristan leaving two bomb-making factories after being, allegedly, tipped off about a raid.
Though it would have been immediately denied, the conversation is sure to have been awkward. In these times of recession, the American public wants its money’s worth. And recent events haven’t been too good for the Pakistani military’s image. The latter might say, in wistful petulance, that they will not accept US aid if they don’t have it their way, but, at the end of the day, this is the one bluff the military knows it can ill-afford for the Americans to call. Our conventional defence paradigm is dependent upon not just American money but also American hardware.
It would be good for the US, too, to handle the situation with a measure of subtlety. By appealing to those sentiments within the military that have been bruised by the brazen attacks on the GHQ, the PNS Mehran and a number of intelligence establishments, the military can perhaps be convinced that certain hedges are proving to be counter productive, regardless of what plays out in Afghanistan, that perpetual chess board of a country.
The reason the US government – whose idea of diplomacy is otherwise as subtle as a sledgehammer – is so patient with Pakistan is that it knows it can’t do it alone. The Pakistani establishment, on the other hand, is oblivious to the fact that patience is a commodity that can run thin all too often. We are only this close.
Meanwhile, a bomb ripped apart a shopping complex in Peshawar, killing 38. A blast in Charsadda followed that. If there ever wasn’t a time for false pride…