Of friends who are enemies

Pakistan and US despite being old allies are, at best, each other’s ‘frenemies’

In recent days, whenever and wherever one sees a hyphenated Pak-US, it rarely bodes well and almost always spells trouble. In good old days, when the both nations held hands, the aim was either to achieve something mammoth, like diplomatic ties with China during the reign of Ayub Khan and President Johnson’s presidency, or to annihilate something titanic, like the great USSR. The romance, following the trajectory of all real ones, has turned sour of late. Till the fall of USSR, both countries were best buds and used to see eye to eye on various issues. There were misgivings and promises not kept and even a realisation that friends should not be masters, yet the relations were never on the brink and there was no waving of fists or washing of dirty linen in the comity of nations.
It changed overnight, the bonhomie vanished, things changed irretrievably and for all times to come after 9/11 when US came under attack from rogue terrorists who were previously believed to live in caves and were only capable of mindless killing of invaders on its soil. Our erstwhile President Musharraf tells us that US gave us an either/or choice, in case we had opted ‘or’, it would have bombed and make a Toora Boora of us. We opted ‘either’ and rest, as they say, is history.
Misgivings coupled with real and imaginary betrayals, tarnished promises thrown in the mix of allegations of double game prosper and dash under the pal of a relationship that is volatile at its best and perpetually endangered at its worst. The sages call it marriage of convenience, the skeptics label it as the greatest mismatch of second half of twentieth century.
We lament that our sacrifices haven’t been appreciated, acknowledged and applauded enough. US blame that we’ve been in it to mint dollars on one hand while shielding and actively abating them ‘good Taliban’ who respect the lives on one side of the borders while wreaking havoc on the other. This dichotomy of good Taliban and bad Taliban is what is actually gnawing the core.
Why has this happened? Well, the short answer is that this is exactly what happens when one pays heed to irritants and not to the glaring issues. The question now is what really are the irritants in Afghanistan. Even to some of the trained eyes, the various factions of warring Taliban, the ruthless involvement of international and regional powers in the affairs of Afghanistan and their attempts to get a share of pie may seem like ‘The’ issues when they actually are merely irritants. The Afghan problem, mainly, revolves around the practice of keeping the Afghan people sidelined, silenced and denying them a seat at the table. Till this practice goes on, all parties better look for a tombstone that has their name in the ‘graveyard of civilisations’.
It was an open secret for past many months and there were multiple reports from various circles as well that the Trump administration was all set to turn up the heat on Pakistan, and Kabul, along with India, in the here and now couldn’t desire more. One need not to be a genius to know that more sticks from US mean Pakistan cosying up to China in the hope to bag some carrots.
During a candid conversation with a former brigadier of Pakistan army who had an extensive experience of dealing with the Taliban in particular and Afghanistan in general, I learned what Pakistan’s security establishment wanted to know. Our khakis and babus desperately want to understand what Americans are up to in our neighbourhood.
“The Afghanistan issue is not being resolved because they [Americans] are not willing to talk to the Taliban. Taliban have concerns, they have reasons to fight, they are sons of the soil. If you want to finish the war and usher in the peace, you must be willing to talk and to negotiate,” said the former army man, reiterating that Pakistan has made all out efforts many a times, however when Pakistan tries to play a role in bringing peace to Afghanistan apprehensions are raised about it.
“See, from 2001 till 2017, in 16 years they [Americans] have failed to bring peace in Afghanistan, which means they need to change the strategy. Look at the initiatives Russians and Chinese have taken in recent years, there is hope that the issue can be resolved regionally, then why do we have to reach out to the Americans. And is precisely the reason why Americans did not participate in it,” he opined, stressing that the new strategy has to be to talk to the Taliban.
Interestingly, many observers believe that the only way out of Afghanistan for America is to give something, if they want to take something. If US once again resorts to use its muscle again. It’ll send four thousand additional troops to Afghanistan, that, quite realistically, will mean four thousand additional targets for Taliban and once more American soldiers are targeted the region will go beyond mere simmering.
To say that for Pakistan the ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan is essential to its survival and security is to state the obvious. Last time, buddy US and bradar Saudi Arabia were on our side. But this time around, buddy US is on the other side of the fence, while bradar Saudis have their own battles to fight. The former best friends have not become enemies, for now, they are ‘frenemies’ — friends who are enemies.