As usual
Our current phase of tensions with the outside world is going to get worse before it gets better. For starters, the attack on the Ashura mourners in Kabul have led to fingers being pointed to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and because of that, yes, the Pakistani deep state itself. Then there is the case of the alleged Kashmiri ISI spy in the US, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has confessed in a Virginia court of his crime. Foreign countries paying huge sums to lobbyists is nothing out of the norm (AIPAC, anyone?) but the slightest of hiccups at moments like these can amount to much turbulence.
Regarding Pakistan, there are, roughly, two schools of thought in American policy circles. The usual hawks-and-doves pair. These schools, in an even rougher classification, fit into the defence and state departments. The latter wants US policy to ease up; the former wants increased proactive military engagement. But before things come to the pass of any increased military confrontation, an example of which is the Salala incident in the Mohmand agency, there is the issue of aid. In this regard, the task of the pro-Pakistan lobby is a little tough in these times of grave financial constraints. It is also a thankless job, with US legislators being surprised when they passed a bill (Kerry-Luger) that would fork out $7.5 billion to the Pakistani government, only to be met by outrage on the streets and airwaves of Pakistan. Such an attitude then feeds into the rhetoric of the American right. To quote a particularly candid John McCain, if Pakistan has chosen “to embrace terror and back the Haqqani network”, it should do so “without subsidies from the US taxpayer.”
It is in these times of tumult that certain quarters are demanding greater swagger from both our government and armed forces. An insistence of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Discretion is the better part of valour. The people of Pakistan deserve better than this.
