Good generals, it is said, do not die but fade away silently into oblivion. Not the way to go for Admiral Mike Mullen. In his valedictory appearance before the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, he lambasted former best-friend Pakistan, more particularly the Pakistani military, with some awkward revelations. That made our brass hot under the collar, prompting Gen Ashfaq Kayani to make his equally bitter rejoinder.
The hornet’s nest that Admiral Mullen stirred in his testimony included the stunning statement that the Haqqani network was a veritable arm of the ISI and was responsible for the attacks which injured 77 US soldiers as well as for the brazen September 13 attacks on the US Embassy in the heart of Kabul.
Further revelations in his testimony must also have been music to the ears of the Washington neo-cons and chicken hawks for whom Pakistan has become the focus of all their failures in Afghanistan. “The Quetta Shura and the Haqqani network are hampering efforts to improve security in Afghanistan, spoiling possibilities for broader reconciliation, and frustrating US-Pakistan relations. The actions by the Pakistani government to support them – actively and passively – represent a growing problem that is undermining US interests and may violate international norms, potentially warranting sanction. In supporting these groups, the government of Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Army, continues to jeopardise Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected and prosperous nation with genuine regional and international influence.” A harsh indictment, indeed.
However, given the stakes and Pakistan’s regional importance, after the initial onslaught from the entire US administration – the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House – the element of threat and condemnation in its tone and tenor has been considerably softened – without really withdrawing the substance of the allegations.
There is scant doubt that in terms of the Pak-US relations the statement is a watershed, a game changer indeed. One thing is pretty obvious though: whatever the lip service, from now on the US would at best keep the ties conditional and businesslike, with the possibility of sanctions, ‘all options on the table’ and ‘use of bombers’ that Congressmen and Senators of both parties are threatening us with.
The recent war of words however begs the question: why is it that the Haqqani network has been rediscovered exactly at this point in time, when the surge has fizzled out, victory is a distant, unattainable dream while the presidential election is at hand? No wonder Pakistan, its army and its intelligence agency – the usual suspects – have become handy whipping boys.
While it is not entirely devoid of truth, this is the nationalistic view, fuelled further with patriotic bravado that we saw after the commanders’ meeting and which is likely to mirror in the prime minister’s APC – a rather curious choice for a forum when both houses of the parliament could have served the purpose, only with greater legitimacy.
The US, as much as it has to be blamed for occupying Afghanistan and for so many other transgressions, is not responsible for our fall from grace – to the extent that our friends are few and these too remain indifferent, and our sacrifices in the last eight years go unacknowledged.
But blaming the US and hurling counter threats is no panacea for our troubles. Our misfortune stems from our own misconceptions – not letting go of the pre-9/11 notions of controlling the jihadists, so neatly compartmentalising the Taliban into good and bad, and not abandoning the apparently irresistible pull of finding strategic depth in Afghanistan.
The harvest of this unending, three-decade long adventurism in Afghanistan that started with Zia and continued to be mismanaged by the Musharraf regime, both bargaining national interest for self-perpetuation and self-enrichment of a coterie through US blessings, has brought us to this sorry pass that today the whole country is bleeding, hurt in body and soul and fragmented to no end. The political governments that served in the interregnum from late 1980s to 1999 were kept on a tight leash – and sent packing at will. Things are not radically different under this Zardari regime – and after some lukewarm attempts, the power to formulate the foreign and security policy has been ceded back to where it has belonged all these years in the aftermath of the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill.
But with the rules of engagement with the US having changed dramatically post-Osama bin Laden’s capture and killing in Abbottabad and now Admiral Mullen’s brusque allegations, would we continue on the same well-trodden path that has brought us nothing but instability, destruction and a rank bad name? The signs are that we would remain as adamant in our refusal to come to the right conclusions, when what we desperately need is to rectify the internal fault lines and forge unity without which peace and prosperity at home and in our region will remain a mirage.
The writer is Sports and Magazines Editor, Pakistan Today.
Right u r Agha Akbar
But this Aabpara production will never realise it.
It has destroyed our future & is going to destroy our next generation also.
Shame on u Kiani & Pasha the stooges of Taliban.
Shame on u mr Taliban Khan also, the political wing of Taliban.
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