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Is US a reliable partner?Pakistan OBSERVER, Tue, Aug,14, 2007.Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema
The vicissitude of Pakistan-US relations are too pronounced to be ignored. The decade of 50s saw the advent of Cold War alliances in which Pakistan participated to cater for its own needs. With the passage of time, the Cold War alliance system lost its efficacy and Pakistan eventually pulled out of all those alliances. But this was not the only factor which influenced Pakistani decision to pull out of the alliances. Many Pakistani felt that the US did not live up to the expectations of the Pakistanis and fulfilled its part of the bargain. Pakistan, on the other hand, not only earned the wrath of both the then Soviet Union and India but also felt totally disillusioned with their American linkages. Following the Sino-Indian war of 1962, India which used to take pride in its non-aligned status requested the Americans to supply arms. The Americans, disregarding the Pakistani pleas that the arms supply would upset the strategic balance in the region, rushed arms to India without paying any considerations to the Pakistanis sensitivities. Similarly after the outbreak of 1965 war between India and Pakistan, American announced to follow a policy of even handedness and stopped the supply of weapons to both India and Pakistan. A close ally Pakistan and neutral India were both treated with same stick. For obvious reasons Pakistan was hurt more as it used to get substantive amount of weapons from US under the alliance partnership whereas India became recipient of American arms only after 1962 Sino-Indian War and quantity of arms was far less. Equally worth scrutiny was US policy during the India-Pakistan 1971 war in which Soviets were also involved. America had committed itself at Manila while signing SEATO that US would immediately come to the assistance of an alliance partner if any of the Communist power was involved on the other side. In 1971 war the participation of the Soviet aircraft was pointed out to the Americans but Americans only undertook a symbolic gesture of ordering the aircraft carrier Enterprise to move into the Bay of Bengal which arrived when the East Pakistan had already become Bangladesh. Another example of American disregard for alliance partners’ expectations manifested when the Americans left Pakistan in the lurch after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. During the Afghanistan’s war against Soviets, Pakistan was not only made an operational base but also another alliance was formed. But when the war was over and the American objective of bleeding the Soviets in Afghanistan was attained, the American quickly disentangled them and left Pakistan to continue facing enormous problems that were the product of Afghan war. Not only Pakistan was compelled to play host to more than four million Afghan refugees but was also burdened with the great Islamic warriors who were encouraged, welcomed, trained and equipped by the Americans during the war against the Soviets. After the war these warriors had no where to go as their own government refused to take them back. Consequently they continued to stay within Pakistani tribal areas illegally. What the Pakistanis failed to understand was that a superpower would only stay with them as long their as interests required them to stay involved. The involvement of a superpower in any part of the world is basically the product of two principal categories of vital interests: those relating to her global position as a superpower and those associated with the area in the context of foreign policy. For a small or medium power, the major considerations for forging closer ties with any of the superpowers often stem from a desire to correct the regional imbalance. Besides with global developments and changes in the international environment could radically change their policies. Given the history of so many let downs, it is not at surprising to expect that the Pakistanis would now be extremely suspicious of linkages with the Americans especially if viewed with the context of changed environment. The participation of Pakistan in the International coalition against the war on terror has further revealed that despite its massive contributions in this war, it has only earned allegations and accusations. There is a continuous barrage of accusations from many quarters of American society that Pakistan needs to do more. An impartial comparison of Pakistan’s contributions in the war against terrorism with the other coalition partners amply reveals that no other partners have even contributed half of what Pakistan has done. Yet Pakistan is singled out for accusations and allegations. There comes a point when even those who fully recognize the advantages and disadvantages of alliance partnership but support the linkages also begin to entertain notions of de-linking with the coalition. It seems that point has arrived and re-thinking about the linkages is being undertaken by many in Pakistani state and society. Many Pakistanis have begun to realize that their country has been made a scapegoat for the failures of alliance partner’s policies. While it is somewhat amusing to hear that some American officials feel and are engaged in projecting the success of their policy in Afghanistan, the ground realities depict the incumbent situation rather differently. The failures are covered by employing diversionary tactics which includes blaming Pakistan. It is an open secret that one of the major reason for failure of Afghanistan policy is the American involvement in Iraq along with a half hearted attempts to for reconstruction and stability of Afghanistan. Currently employed two pronged American policy of blaming and appreciating Pakistani efforts in the war against terrorism and Talibans simultaneously is causing more confusion than facilitating the earnest efforts. Confusion is further compounded by issuance of contradictory statements regarding Osama. Reportedly US intelligence Chief Mike McConnell stated that Osama bin Laden is alive and sheltered in what he called lawless parts of Pakistan-meaning the tribal region of Pakistan. On the other hand there are many who believe that Osama has already died. However a news report that has been cited on the net by U.S. & World quoting a Pakistani newspaper stated quite categorically that Osama has died. Second set of contradictory reports revolve around the likely strike by the Americans inside Pakistani territory on what some American officials and some ignorant and irresponsible presidential hopefuls are projecting the notion of safe havens of Al-Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan. President Bush and some other American officials clearly stated that US respects Pakistan’s sovereignty but cleverly avoided response to a reporter’s questions on likely strikes against Pakistan. While the confusion is compounding, the credibility of the Americans and dependability upon them is further paying a heavy toll and cementing the belief that the Americans are not reliable partners- especially among the general public. The writer works for Islamabad Policy research Institute.
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