SOME CONVERSATIONS WITH HAQQANI: His side has been edited per his request. My side of the conversation is printed here.

Husain Haqqani: Dangerous 5th column or selfish opportunist?

Pakistan’s New Ambassador: Traitor or Naïve fool?

Mr. Potato-Chips goes to Washington:-Neocon from Pakistan

A rebuttal to Mr. Haqqani: US policy and Pakistan’s drift

Rebuttal to Mr. Haqqani’s book

A 2004 article updated in April 2008

Mr. Haqqani has returned to Pakistan rekindling his association with the PPP. “900 chohay kha kar ubb wo hajj kurnay gayeh hain” (After 900 rats, he has gone for a pilgrimage”..smile! attemted humor!). I have removed my email conversation with Mr. Haqqani circa 2004 etc. becuase he has objected to it. I have left my side of the conversation and it is pertinent even though he denies that he was ever a part of the Neocon thinking schemes.

I am not againt Ms. Bhutto, just disappointed!

Subject: US policy and Pakistan’s drift     A rebuttal to HUSAIN HAQQANI’S IDEAS   

Mr. Haqqani makes some valid points on Pakistani history, however his article is tinted by his bias against the current administration in Pakistan and Muslims in general. Amazingly he finds common cause with Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad a well-known anti-Pakistan neocon in the Bush Administration. If Mr. Haqqani blames everything on the military why does he ignore the lack of contributions to change the course by Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Nawaz Sharif who not only supported the military adventures but also built on them. Ayub Khan said is best in his book ”Friends not Masters“.

The West has used Pakistan and then discarded Pakistanis like used Kleenex tissues. To find profound philosophies in a business transaction between master and slave is repeat the “do more” mantra of the East India Company who wanted Indian Muslim to work harder for the empire and eventually get a piece of the action.  “Democracy” is an ephemeral term. The “greatest Democracy” in the Middle East does not allow half the residents it controls to vote.

The founding fathers of the USA built a “Republic” and not a “Democracy” and the US voting system has an inbuilt mechanism to defend against the tide of popular “mobocracy” called the Electoral College. The results of the last election where Al Gore won by popular vote astounded the world which woke up to find out the difference between a “democracy” and a republic. Amazingly while blacks were dying for “democracy” in Europe they did not have a right to vote in the USA. Therefore “Democracy” is NOT a panacea of all problems in a country that is largely illiterate and where the politicians are more interested in filling their pockets then in building a country. We need consensus in our land and yes our Senate should include intellectuals and teachers.

The Lee Kwon You cabinet is made up of Phds only! No wonder Singapore is a leader in Asia. However if you ever try to criticize the government in Singapore you will end us as fish-bait!.  The best Tigers in Asia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, and China have beaten the odds and build good economies without the trappings of a Jeffersonian democracy! If we were starved to hear the stale same old, same old ”Do More” Mantra, at a  higher decibel of we will surely hear it from Mr. Richard Armitage who is visiting our country. We don’t need to hear it from discarded politicians who have on previous occasions kissed the royal derriere of the very dictators that Mr. Haqqani has the audacity to criticize America must “do more” to pay Pakistan reparations for the damage it has inflicted on Pakistan and Afghanistan in the past 20 years. A round figure to start off is $50 Billion

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Mr. Haqqani:cc: *Robert Crane (who knows what I am talking about) and Jeremy Thomas (a Brit but otherwise an intellegent scholar and a Muslim), wkhan (a Naom Chomsky kind a guy)

I have included my response to your article in this e-mail for easy reference. * Dr. Robert Crane, a think tanker one of  who was an adivosor to President Nixon and a former ambassador. Mr. Haqqani works for the Carnegie Endowment  

According to Sy Hersh (New Yorker), The Israelis told the Americans, “seal the border with Iran“… “seal the border with Iran”.

Duh, with Rummies grand plans of a small army, and “Resurrecting Empire” (Rashid Khalidi)  this was not done. Rummie who? Today Rummy is an “undisclosed location“, possibly the next Tenet, if you believe yesterday’s Harold Meyerson Washington Post story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38133-2004Aug3.html). Iran is training Sadar and US forces cannot dare go into any major Iraqi city and as Fisk (robert-fisk.com) reports face more than a 100 attacks per day.  

Is Iraq another Vietnam? “Is this Hegemony of Survival” (Naom Chomsky). Iran bled the USA and it’s allies in far away Lebanon. Imagine what they can do in Iraq. “Imperial Hubris” clearly defines the Sy Hersh in the New Yorker quoted Prime Minster Ehud Barak informing Dick Chaney “occupation does not work” “You have lost the war in Iraq, only the size of your humiliation is left to be determined”. The Israelis should know, they know when to attack and when to cut bait. Nothing is truer than what Barak has said the neocons know. Learning from “Imperial Hubris” (Anonymous), Daniel Pipes has been advocating an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.  The face saving offer by Saudi Arabia is the best way for the neocons to learn about the “Sorrows of Empire” (Chalmers Johnson) and out of this quagmire, DECLARE VICTORY and turn this mess over to the “Muslim Legions” (NY Times yesterday) led by Pakistan. How will they cut Pakistan down to size again? when they need them every ten years! 

Mr. Khalilzad Who can find a Neoco these days. All the Neocons are hiding. Not one will show up at the Republican convention if you believe Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post. Many like Pipes are chaning colors, all are hiding to allow Bush to become the CENTRIST president. The Conoco Salesman Mr. Khalizad learned nothing from “Charlies War” (George Crile) and like a good ambassador in serving the interests of Afghanistan err Conoco.

The other Conoco rep., the Mayor of Northwest Kabul Mr. Karazai whose writ is confined to the perimeter set by his brave U.S. Marine bodyguards knows his days are numbered, one slip and he may  find a place for burial in Rangoon. “na main kissee ka ankh noor hoon, na main kissee kay dil ka surroor hoon”  Is Mr. Khalizad a Conservative or neocon? Who actually follows Strauss Hupe or which one is a follower of Miester Eckhart or Kissinger one never knows.

The semantic difference between “Conservative” and “Neo-Conservative” seems lost when all of them seem to be serving the Neocon Gods in and around Cheney Rove and Wolfowitz (spit included!).  If you don’t mind me quoting a senior Pakistani General, Mr. Khalizad “doesn’t know the difference between his …. a hole in the ground“……(see I did not even mention derriere…I am improving..,kudos for Moin). The fact remains that Mr. Khalizad periodic hissy fits embarrass the State Department back home and really antagonize the Pakistanis who need him like a hole in the head. To cover up the incompetence of Karzai and gang and the NATO allies he can continue his temper tantrums or he can learn some manners. It is bewildering and amazing that the USA purchased the Northern Alliance and allowed them to establish its writ and now expect Pakistan to continue taking the Pakistan-bashing from those who have no power base in Afghanistan.

The occasional forays by the NATO troops (mainly US forces) into the countryside are pathetic and meant only to punch time cards and appease the bosses in Washington. Does Mr. Khalizad really believe that his polemics and the “Do More” mantra will force the anti-Northern Alliance elements (not to forget the Anti-American elements) in Pakistan/Afghanistan to pledge loyalty to the new viceroy in Kabul, just because he can say “I will tell papa”.

They purchased all that was for sale in Afghanistan. Sadly, even what they bought is now up for sale again and has actually been bought again. Gul Hamid and others know that no more is for sale, and when the “White Boys” get tired of Tora Bora, a new kindler gentler ” New Democratic Talibaan” will again take over Kabul before you can say “On to the Oxus”. As Lord Curzon found out these Pashtuns are patient and ferocious people and as the battle fatigued NATO is finding out, securing Kabul was easy, securing Zabul is not their cup of tea err hasish!!!. Pakistan was promised a pro-Pakistan Government in Afghanistan. The people riding the “Yellow cabs” came in shouting “Long Live Masoud, Down with Pakistan” and liberated the women of Afghanistan (yeah right!). Lacking MTV, Pakistanis do not suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Pakistanis have long elephant memories. The entire world, or at least the thinking world knows that The Non-Pashtun Northern Alliance does not have grassroots support in Afghanistan and never will. The US  forces and the Mayor of Northwest Kabul are totally and absolutely dependent on Pakistan and the ISI on controlling the level of resistance there. The USA must realize that unless a pro-Pakistan government is installed in Afghanistan this will turn into another Vietnam, or could I say “Afghanistan”.

I really don’t understand why this simple fact is so elusive to the US Administration….forget Afghanistan, with the attack on Islamov (sp?), they need to worry about the other tans!!! 

>>Similarly, I would like you to cite examples from history to justify your concept of a

>>superpower having any obligation to “do more” for a country whose leaders allowed it to

>>be used by it. The list is long..where do you want me to start. I am sure you remember the Marshall Plan, and the aid to the Philippines, and the forgiving of the debt of Egypt and of course (as my mother would say) ”baray ‘chore’ ka naam to bhole hee gayaey”, our friend, partner and greatest ally in the world Israel. I could give you rough numbers and the remuneration, but The Carnegie Endowment  probably has better statistics. We all know the payment to use the services was a bit more than “peanuts”.

Even the State Department Web site calculated the cost of $10 Billion per year to Pakistan because of the war in Afghanistan. Of course the web site was hastily pulled down when the Pakistani press got wind of the numbers. Who can explain this to the Daniel Pipes and the Wolfowitz. They have an agenda, ask the wrong questions, get the wrong answers and come to the wrong conclusions. No wonder we are in such a mess and don’t know. 

>>In none of the truly developing countries (South Korea, Taiwan, East Asian tigers) has the

>>military micro-managed politics.All of them are military run TOTAL dictatorships and always will be…and don’t forget China…and after 2000 we can continue to celebrate the foundations of our country as a republic, but after the interference of the Supreme Court into a purely state matter, can we honestly celebrate our government as a democracy!. the Swiss and the Swedes and the Germans and the French are laughing their way to the bank..Swiss Banks! As the successors of the Greek civilization we surely want to do what Socrates told us. Socrates would be dumbfounded that his theirey of Dialectic (Democracy, Mobocracy, Dictatorship, Democracy) rings true today at a faster pace than he had ever imagined and Marx would agree totally that The Thesis and Antithesis happens on the whims of the CIA. Democracy in Pakistan?

Every time we have it the interested parties get rid of our elected leaders and impose a dictator on us…………….one decade later he is replaced by :”democracy” and the cycle follows. This works so well that it is now being tried in Iraq and surely in Saudi Arabia soon…stay tuned for more looney tunes from Moin!!In Pakitan I wish Bhutto was alive…I sorely miss him!!!
 

We agree on Americas problems with “Imperial Hubris“, “Resurrecting Empire”  and the “Sorrows of Empire“. We also agree on building Pakistani state institutions. Personal remarks ignored as before! We disagree on Jeffersonian Democracy for Pakistan and the erroneous path of Mr. Khalizad. We also don’t see eye to eye on forgiveness of Pakistan’s 37 Billion Dollar debt. America must “DO MORE” on this so that we can concentrate on building the institutions that you talk about. Right now our expenditure on the social sector is pitiful and this will continue to create more taliban in Pakistan. We need about 100 new Cadet Colleges to siphon off the madarsas and a hundred new Agha Khan type hospitals to build a healthy nation.  

1) Khalizad’s needs to change his tune or be replaced by a diplomat who knows diplomatic language. His polemics are not helping Afghanistan or his cause. Afghanistan needs to have a popular government which is acceptable to Pakistan and also possibly Iran. The current “status quo” in Afghanistan is untenable will end the way the USSR and Curzon’s occupation of Afghanistan ended..DEFEAT! 

2) Jeffersonian Democracy in Pakistan may not be the solution until we reach the South Korean stage. The Turkish model is the best we can hope for, because this guarantees some modem of stability for Pakistan. Even the neocons who had hoped for this in the enitre Middle East now recognize that a strongman for Iraq is the best solution 

3) Further cooperation from Pakistan in Iraq and Afghanistan is and should be dependant on getting some major debt forgiveness or Pakistan lets loose General Hamid Gul and gang. Worse still General Musharraf is replaced by General Gul type 

4) The neocons refuse to accept the ROOT CAUSES of terrorism, Palestine, Kashmir, the occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a major issue in blunting the causality of the talibaan movement.  

5) Egypt and Jordan’s loans were forgiven during the first Gulf War. The Marshall Plan built all of Europe and Japan. All through the Cold War the GIVEN reason for the support of Israel was that she was our ONLY ally in he Middle East. Pakistan has gotten bread crumbs…some more facts…if we spend 22 million of Child care and 40 million on Narcotics control. Is this helping Pakistan or simply Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and an extension of the DEA and the AFT with “the little brown boys” running the front line?  

PAKISTANS DEBT FORGIVENESS: According to the Ministry of Finance, the proposed package of $300 million for Ministry of Finance (FMF) would include: $22.15 million for Child Survival and Health Programme Fund; $29 million for Development Assistance; $300 million for Economic Support Fund (ESF); $300 million for Military Financing (EMF); $2 million for International Military Education/Training; $40 million for International Narcotics Control/Law Enforcement; $6 million for NADR (Anti Terror); and $1 million for NADR (Export Control/Border Security). The proposed package includes commitment for strengthening security and export control regime of the country, in addition to anti-terror financing.US financial assistance and debt relief for Pakistan are totally inadequate in the face of what it has done for Washington. It’s established beyond the shadow of doubt and is even acknowledged by the US leadership that Pakistan’s role in US war against terror in Afghanistan was crucial and fundamental.

The $ 3 billion assistance spread over five years and $1.495 billion debt relief is, therefore, just peanuts by comparison with the sacrifices that Pakistan has rendered to help US realise its objectives in Afghanistan. The Pakistan leadership had taken difficult and unpopular decisions and had affected a major shift in its Taliban policy against the public wishes to support the US anti-terror war. It was a major shift in Pakistan’s policy, which is being interpreted in some circles as betrayal of the Taliban, while ramifications of the war in Afghanistan have destabilised the country. The relief package has, in fact, disappointed the Pakistanis rather than creating any goodwill for the United States. Interestingly, the US has written off only the concessionnal loans borrowed under the official Development Assistance (ODA) and has opted to keep the burden of costly non-ODA loans carrying about 6.58 percent on weighted average.

The written-off loans, with weighted average cost of 2.54 percent were repayable in 38 years, while the non-ODA loans are payable in full. The US decision to keep the high-cost loans and waive off only softer ones constitutes a glaring contradiction in its declared policy of participation in Pakistan’s economic take-off and sustained development. Isn’t it ironic that a non-NATO ally and partner in anti-terror war should be cheated so glaringly? It once again substantiates the public perception in Pakistan that US is not a sincere friend.The fact is that Pakistan has not been rewarded appropriately for the sacrifices that it has rendered for the US war on terror. It has long endured acts of terrorism and is still fighting against the militants to make America safer. Yet, Pakistan is being treated shabbily. Why shouldn’t Pakistan be also given debt relief on the pattern of Egypt and Jordan during the first Gulf war?
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The problem with US policy makers is that they do not have the foresight to see the root ROOT CAUSE of the problem. As anonymous says in “Imperial Hubris“, is LOSING the war or terrorism BECAUSE, the USA does not HEAR what Laden is saying, “get out of of Muslim lands (Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq). Anonymous says, “They don’t hate us because we have Girl scouts, or because we have freedom and a Senate or that we have MTV“…they hate us because the ROOT CAUSE OF THE MESSAGE is obfuscated by the likes of Wolfowitz and Frum “An end to all evil”. In Pakistan the root cause of the problem is: THE USA IS DEAF…and cannot hear the terrorists and CANNOT hear the Pakistanis 

1) Kashmir and an Anti-Pakistan government in Kabul For Pakistan, these TWO core issues are not being addressed. The longer they fester, the longer the problems will be exacerbated……..neither Benazir nor Nawaz Sharif can ignore these, even if do get Jeffersonian Democracy in Pakistan In a message dated 8/5/2004 6:08:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, hhaqqani@ceip.org writes:

In addition pak military gets $84 million a month (rpt a month) for “its costs” on cooperation in the war against terrorism.

…the 84 million PER MONTH is for use of the Airforce bases not “simple goodwill” cooperation…84 million for five Airforce bases….you gotta be kidding…..that is giving away our territory away for free…….9/11 cost the USA 1 Trillion Dollars……the cost of preventing at a Billion a year is “pennies”…compare this cost to what the USA was paying the Philippines when they negotiated the USA out of there with devastating consequences to the USAs military outreach…it is a matter of supply and demand…..can the USA find better Airforce bases anywhere else…NO..so 84 million is pennies…the 36 Billion should be wiped off the slate Renegotiating is a time honored capitalist technique. Each time the USA tells Pakistan to “DO MORE” on something, the USA should be handed a bill. They are big boys used paying their way through….unless they can get it for free…like we are giving it away free Egypt and Jordan signed a piece of paper. The situation on the ground remains the same. Israel had to withdraw from 60% of Egyptian territory………………can Pakistan expect the same from India for PERMANENT cessation of hostilities……………………. ….it is naive to think that any Pakistani government can forget about Kashmir and cease operations in Kashmir and Afghanistan. When one comes to term with this reality, one will be able to solve the problems in South Asia a) 40% of Lahore is Kashmiri. Kashmiris in England fund a lot of the activities and have a stranglehold on Pakistani politics 

b) The Khalizaid Northern Alliance will never be able to control Afghanistan until and unless Pakistan is part of the picture. Keeping Pakistan out of Afghnistan perpetuates the civil war and instability in Afghanistan and the other TANS. Polemics on the part of the Viceroy or the Mayor will achieve nothing. 

c) Demonizing the military in Pakistan is demonizing each and every family in the Punjab. Each family has one brother in the PPP, one int he PML and one in the military. Which party is in power the families remain in power THE BOTTOM LINE is that USA needs Pakistan to provide stability to India, Afghanistan and the other TANS…..the ROOT causes have to be eliminated…Kashmir and the anti-Pakistan Northern Alliance………………..for better or for worse the military will remain in power in Pakistan…and holding elections or taking the uniform off does not create Jeffersonian democracy Talk is cheap…the USA should learn to pay its bills….build Cadet Colleges if it wants the madarsas shut down, build hospitals if it wants the Lashkars to disappear, build sewage systems if it wants to eliminate unemployed youth headed for jihad and build dams if it wants to eliminate starving children from crossing borders 

 You agreed about Americans being deaf…let us see if Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is rampant because we drink fluorinated water or is it the air????? On the REAL roots of terrorism in the Muslim world…………is the THE RING OF FIRE…and Anonymous in “Imperial Hubris” calls it the CRUSADE ON ISLAM………..well let us see Algerian Democracy was overthrown…

Pakistani Democracy was hanged, Indonesia was humiliated in East Timor, Saddam Husain wsa baited by Ambassador Aprill Gillispie into Kuwait (by telling the poor sod that ‘America will consider an encroachment into Iraq as an ‘inter-Arab’ conflict), Iran was kept in check by Iraq (while arms were being supplied to Saddam Husain)……and the long saught after vicotry by Anwar Saddat was demolished by American F-16 painted with the Star of David that halted the advance of the Egyptian Army who had successfully cross the Suez canal and decimated the impregnable Barlev Lines…THESE ARE THE ROOT CAUSES OF TERRORISM…. Don’t take my word for it…let us see what the experts are saying..OUTISDE the American Enterprise Insistute.

…………I give you a list of books that define the role of America. University of Columbia professor Dr. Rashid Khalidi describes it eloquently in “Resurrecting Empire“……. …amazingly we have selective amnesia and we forget that the taliban were created by the CIA-ISI and the Saudis/Emirates ….IF you need more information on the roots of terror please read “Sorrows of Empire” by Chalmer’s Johns and “Charlies War” (Congressman Charles Wilson of Texas) by George Crile who explains how the CIA ran the war in Afghanistan using Muslims from Pakistani madarsas all over the world to fight the Evil Empire-, the USSR. In “Unholy Wars“ by Cooley gives us an depth analysis and role of the CIA in creating a global network of terrorism using Muslim youth as cannon fodder..and 2 million Muslims were expended…do we have a memorial for these souls somewhere…..or Reagan destroyed the USSR with his bare hands…was it not….the Muslim who were being invited to the Governor’s House and the Whitehorse…now called the evil Taliban and everything is now blamed on Pakistan Dr. Haqqani you also sent me a list of wonderful questions…I will absolutely respond to them…but it is a good list… 
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