That the US has prepared secret scorecards of Pakistan’s performance in the war on terror to assess whether it is really extending the required cooperation to the US before any security assistance could be given to it, shows Washington in its true colours and exposes the hoax of “lasting friendship” the American leaders have been talking about since 9/11.
After all, the US is in the process of packing up in Afghanistan and as there is little point in the superpower currying favour with a country whose help would no longer be required after the US withdrawal, it believes it is time to prepare the ground for moving away from it.
For the role of region’s policeman, Washington has opted for India which has apparently taken upon itself the role of keeping any eruption of disturbances in Afghanistan under check after the US troops had left and has also promised to serve as a bulwark against the expansion of Chinese power and influence. Though the State Department has in a statement confirmed the US media report about conditional aid, the ISI has denied that it has been presented with any wish-list and rightly maintained that it was Pakistan’s prerogative to decide how to combat terrorism and conduct relations with Afghanistan.
Under no circumstances should Islamabad compromise on its national interests in trying to be on the right side of the US because that could enable it to receive the promised aid unhindered. Reportedly, four separate scorecards cover different areas of cooperation in: exploiting the bin Laden compound; the war in Afghanistan; conducting joint counterterrorism operations; and improving the overall tone in bilateral relations.
In the meantime, the American and British media has floated a story that Pakistan, peeved at CIA contractor Raymond Davis’ murdering two Pakistanis and the unilateral raid at Abbottabad, has let the Chinese experts take photographs of the tail of the stealth helicopter destroyed during the raid.
Readers familiar with the media hype about the fake story of the weapons of mass destruction in the hands of President Saddam Hussein to justify attack on Iraq would understand that the ‘Chinese inspection of helicopter’s tail’ is nothing but a part of propaganda blitz of the US whose tool its media is ever ready to serve.
The conditional aid and the flimsy charge of the Chinese taking photographs of the helicopter tail are part of the pressure tactics to make Pakistan fall in line. This is the time to resist such pressure and adopt the policy of self-reliance, dispensing with foreign handouts.
Our rulers should swallow the bitter pill of a sharp cut in expenditure for running the government, practise strict austerity and impose taxes on agriculture and the rich to make up for the shortfall caused by the stoppage of the US aid, but under no circumstances follow the American agenda.
MOHAMMAD FIRDOUS CHOUDHRY
Karachi
